David Johansen, frontman with proto-punk band the New York Dolls, has died at the age of 75.
His death was confirmed on Saturday March 1 by a spokesperson in a statement to Rolling Stone: “David Johansen died at home in NYC on Friday afternoon holding hands with his wife Mara Hennessey and daughter Leah, surrounded my music, flowers, and love. He was 75 years old and died of natural causes after nearly a decade of illness.”
In February, Johansen revealed that he had been fighting stage 4 cancer for several years. He had been bedridden and requiring round-the-clock care since breaking his back in two places following a fall last year.
Born in Staten Island, New York on January 9, 1950, Johansen’s joined his first band, the Vagabond Ministries, as a teenager. But it was as singer with proto-punk provocateurs the New York Dolls that he made his name.
He recorded two albums with the Dolls, 1973’s self-titled debut and 1974’s Too Much Too Soon. While neither were commercial hits, both went on to influence bands and artists such as the Sex Pistols, Guns N’ Roses and The Smiths, whose singer Morrissey was an ardent fan.
After the Dolls split in 1976, Johansen embarked on a solo career, releasing a series of solo albums between 1978 and 1984. But his biggest success came in the late 80s via his Buster Poindexter alter ego, which saw him performing blues and jazz covers in the guise of a bequiffed lounge singer. He also appeared in several movies, including 1988’s Scrooged (playing The Ghost Of Christmas Past alongside Bill Murray) and 1992’s sci-fi bomb Freejack, the latter also featuring Mick Jagger.
Johansen relaunched the New York Dolls in 2004 with guitarist Sylvain Sylvain and bassist Arthur Kane (former guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan had died several years earlier). This version of the band released three albums between 2004 and 2011. In 2022, Johansen was the subject of an acclaimed concert film and documentary, Personality Crisis: For One Night Only, directed by Marin Scorsese.
Last month, the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund charity launched a fundraiser to help Johansen – the last surviving member of the New York Dolls – to help with his health battles.
"Five years ago at the beginning of the pandemic we discovered that David’s cancer had progressed and he had a brain tumour," said the singer's daughter Leah Hennessey, when launching the fundraiser. "There have been complications ever since. He’s never made his diagnosis public, as he and my mother Mara are generally very private people, but we feel compelled to share this now, due to the increasingly severe financial burden our family is facing."
A week after the fundraiser, Johansen expressed gratitude to the fans who had donated to the fundraiser.
"I just wanted to thank you all for giving us a big boost here with our fundraising campaign, I guess you would call it. I’ve never asked for help in my life and lately Mara’s been teaching me the beauty of, when your chips are down, asking for help."
