Michael Alig (born South Bend, Indiana, April 29, 1966) is the co-founding member of the notorious Club Kids, a group of young clubgoers led by long time best friend James St. James and Alig in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1996 Alig was convicted of the murder of Andre “Angel” Melendez in a confrontation over a drug debt. Alig’s other protegés included Gitsie, Jennytalia, Robert “Freez” Riggs, Richie Rich, RuPaul, Amanda Lepore, and many other Club Kid personalities. The Club Kids’ outrageousness resulted in their appearing on the news and the television talk show circuit—they appeared on the Geraldo Rivera show five times.
The Limelight NYC (left), Michael Alig (middle), Letter from Michael Alig to Maurice Steenbergen (right)
Michael was the main promotor at The legendary Limelight club in NYC, where a lot of the Oldschool Renegades once played (including me)
The Limelight in New York, which was owned by Peter Gatien and designed by Ari Bahat opened in November 1983. Located in the former Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion on Sixth Avenue in an area once known as the “Ladies’ Mile,” located in Manhattan’s Chelsea district, and originally started as a disco music and rock music club. In the 1990s, it became a prominent place to hear techno, goth, and industrial music, and to obtain recreational drugs. It earned the media’s attention in 1996 when club and party promoter Michael Alig was arrested and later convicted for the killing and dismemberment of Angel Melendez, a resident drug dealer at the club. The 2003 film Party Monster, starring Macaulay Culkin and Seth Green, was based on this event. The Limelight was closed by the police, but subsequently reopened several times during the 1990s. In September 2003, it reopened under the name “Avalon,” however it closed its doors for good in 2007. While Gatien’s Limelight is no longer at the center of New York nightlife, many of the cadre of club kids such as Richie Rich and Amanda Lepore have remained active after the Limelight’s demise.
Currently Michael Alig is still in jail at Coxsackie Correctional Facility, but we’ve got an interview planned as soon as he gets out later this year.