Recently local filmmaker Isaac Williams produced a half-hour movie, Paying the Price, featuring Mr. DeLuca, who played two roles: Vincent Price, his favorite actor, and Price's twin brother, Brandon. "Michael always loved horror movies," said his mother, Gloria DeLuca.
Unlike what happened to others with similarly troubled minds in pop, nobody ever tried to take advantage of him, said A.D. Amorosi, a friend who writes about music for The Inquirer. "Nobody wanted to exploit Mikey. They only sought collaboration. They only wanted to pay respect to the guy they knew from hanging around South Street," Amorosi said.
A heavy smoker, Mr. DeLuca quit when he was diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago, his mother said. Though he continued to practice with a band, Scareho, he had less energy for singing and painted more, she said. He used colored markers to draw giant lizards and abstract portraits of a variety of characters, including Vincent Price and Santa Claus.
Brian "Bubonic" Williams, an artist who worked at Wall to Wall Sound & Video on South Street in the late 1980s, said Mr. DeLuca came in daily and asked whether the store had any new Beatles albums.
"I'd also see him every visit to Ishkabibble's getting his coffee or hot chocolate. He always left a tip and said, 'Thanks, honey,' to the waitress. I left Philadelphia 22 years ago, but would always see Mikey either on South Street or near the Italian Market during my return trips. The last time I saw him, he was having a smoke in front of his house. I asked him if he had any art for sale. He went upstairs and returned with an armload of paintings. I asked him how much they were, and he said, 'Ten dollars each, or two for $20.' Of course, I got two."
