By Michael Corcoran

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, December 7, 2003

He was a gifted musician and showman extraordinaire who sang like Otis Redding and often played the bass behind his back while doing splits.

But E.R. Shorts struggled with drug and alcohol problems and spent stints in correctional facilities after violating his probation on a 1995 burglary conviction. Yet he had recently returned to his music, launching a triumphant comeback with a new band.

Shorts died in his sleep Friday in his North Austin home. The cause of death had not been determined. He was 40.

Longtime girlfriend Martha Melton, who discovered Shorts' body about 5:30 a.m. Friday, said he had suffered a stroke last year and had been on medication for heart problems.

Ennis Ray Shorts grew up in the Houston suburb of Richmond. He started making a name for himself in the mid-'80s as the leader of the Houston soul band Thought For Today. A gig as Ian Moore's bass player brought him to Austin in 1989.

Then virtually unknown in the area, Shorts shocked music scenesters by winning the only South By Southwest battle of the bands in October 1990, besting such local favorites as Jimmy LaFave and Two Hoots and a Holler. In a town known for pensive songwriting and adherence to roots rock traditions, Shorts stood out as a sweat-soaked entertainer who'd often give so much of himself onstage that he'd pass out at the end of sets.

During the early '90s, he was the musical mayor of Austin's Sixth Street, out every night, slapping skin, spiking the energy level and playing with whoever let him. There was always a party when E.R. was in the house. Scene watchers wondered how long it would be before he took off nationally.

But he was also insecure and quelled stage fright by drinking and drugging, he later admitted. On March 26, 1995, Shorts was accused of getting drunk, breaking into his ex-girlfriend's apartment and threatening her with a knife. He pleaded guilty to burglary and received 10 years' probation. Suddenly, the everywhere man was nowhere to be found.

Shorts had performed only a handful of times in the past eight years but recently put together a band that had a triumphant return to Fitzgerald's nightclub in Houston on Nov. 29.

Saddened friends said they were not surprised that the brilliant yet troubled artist died so young.

"He was one of the few people I'd forgive over and over again because he was so talented and had such a big heart," said Malcolm Welbourne, who produced Shorts' lone album, "Texas Sunset," in 1994.

Former club owner Danny Crooks, who booked Shorts into Steamboat every Sunday night in the early '90s, called the diminutive dynamo "one of my favorite people in the world. He's the only musician I ever let live at my house. But he had demons that he never could shake."

He was a guy you wanted to root for, club owner Sara Fitzgerald said last month. "Despite the mess he'd sometimes make out of his life, his intentions were usually good," she said.

A memorial show for Shorts will be from noon to 2 p.m. today at Maria's Taco Xpress on South Lamar Boulevard, where he had played his first shows with his new band last month. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Shorts is survived by his mother, Emma Shorts, a pastor in Richmond; and sons Enrique and Ennis Jr.

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