New York Dolls lead singer David Johansen has died at age 75.
A consultant confirmed the musician’s loss of life in a press release to Rolling Stone, saying, “David Johansen died at house in NYC on Friday afternoon holding arms together with his spouse Mara Hennessey and daughter Leah, surrounded [by] music, flowers, and love. He was 75 years outdated and died of pure causes after almost a decade of sickness.”
In a fundraising message on February 14, Leah mentioned that her father had been present process intensive remedy for stage 4 most cancers for many of the final decade and that he was identified with a mind tumor 5 years in the past. Johansen had damaged his again in two locations in a November 2024 fall and was bedridden and incapacitated, Leah added.
“We’ve been dwelling with my sickness for a very long time, nonetheless having enjoyable, seeing family and friends, carrying on, however this tumble the day after Thanksgiving actually introduced us to a complete new stage of debilitation,” Johansen mentioned in a press release on the time, per Rolling Stone. “That is the worst ache I’ve ever skilled in my total life. I’ve by no means been one to ask for assist, however that is an emergency. Thanks.”
Johansen is greatest generally known as the lead singer of the punk group New York Dolls, of which he was the final surviving member. He additionally had a solo music profession beneath his personal identify and the pseudonym Buster Poindexter. As Poindexter, he launched a well-liked cowl of the calypso tune “Scorching Scorching Scorching.”
On display, Johansen had an appearing profession stretching greater than three a long time, which included a memorable flip because the Ghost of Christmas Previous within the 1988 vacation movie Scrooged. He reunited with Scrooged star Invoice Murray in 2015’s A Very Murray Christmas.
In different appearances, Johansen took roles within the movies Married to the Mob, Let It Experience, and Mr. Nanny and guest-starred on the TV exhibits Miami Vice, Cupid, Oz, and Deadline. He was additionally the topic of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s 2022 documentary Character Disaster: One Evening Solely.