Edith "Edie" Massey (May 28, 1918 – October 24, 1984) was an American actress and singer. Massey was best known for her appearances in a series of movies by director John Waters. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Massey capitalized on the infamy of Waters's films by touring as the lead singer of a punk band, Edie and the Eggs.
Massey was born in New York, but raised in Denver, Colorado. She worked in several odd jobs through the years, and she eventually relocated to Baltimore, Maryland where she worked as a barmaid at Pete's Hotel. Filmmaker John Waters met Massey while she was working at Pete's Hotel in 1969 and offered her a role as herself in the film Multiple Maniacs. In the early 1970s, she quit her job at Pete's and opened a thrift store called Edith's Shopping Bag in the Fell's Point area of Baltimore. Massey gained a cult following from her appearances in five films directed by John Waters: Multiple Maniacs (1970), in which she appeared as herself and, in a dream sequence, as the Virgin Mary; Pink Flamingos (1972), playing Divine's egg-loving mother, Edie; Female Trouble (1974), as Aunt Ida; Desperate Living (1977), as the evil Queen Carlotta of Mortville; and in her final role in a Waters film, Polyester (1981), as Cuddles Kovinsky.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Massey was the lead singer of a punk band, Edie and the Eggs. The band's name referred to Massey's character in Pink Flamingos, who had an obsession with eating eggs and romanced an egg delivery man. Massey sometimes wore her leather costume from the film Female Trouble during gigs. Edie and the Eggs included future Go-Go's drummer Gina Schock and Ann Collier, guitar player of Rhumboogie, a well-known all-female Rock and Roll band during 1974-78 from Baltimore. Ann Collier is the person who put the group Edie and the Eggs together after being asked to do so by John Waters.
They performed at CBGB and Max's Kansas City in New York City along with a few other engagements. Ann was asked by the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles to bring the act out there for a number of shows. At that time Ann asked Edith, Gina Schock and Suzan Wirth (bass player) if they would like to go to California. The shows were mostly sold out and a hit; however, none of the members ever received any money for their efforts, with NetArt management saying they (the company) had overspent on the engagement. All the members of the group returned to Baltimore. In 1982, Edie and the Eggs recorded a cover of The Four Seasons's "Big Girls Don't Cry", backed with "Punks, Get off the Grass," both of which were performed in The Eggs' punk stylings. The "Big Girls Don't Cry" cover was featured on the compilation album The Rhino Brothers Present the World's Worst Records shortly after the single's release. The song was later featured on the John Waters compilation, A Date with John Waters.
Massey died of complications of lymphoma and diabetes on October 24, 1984 in Los Angeles. Her body was cremated, and her ashes were scattered in the Garden of Roses at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.
