The New York Dolls’ frontman, David Johansen, passed away. His age was 75.
Weeks after disclosing his stage 4 cancer diagnosis, the musician, who also went by the stage name Buster Poindexter, passed away on Friday at his New York City home, according to his daughter Leah Hennessey, who confirmed the news to many media sites.
Hennessey revealed her father’s diagnosis last month after Johansen spent most of the previous ten years in “intensive treatment,” leaving the family with a “increasingly severe financial burden” due to his medical care.
We learned that David had a brain tumor and that his cancer had spread five years prior, at the start of the epidemic. Since then, there have been issues. Since he and my mother, Mara, are normally very private, he has never disclosed his condition to the public. However, given the growing financial strain our family is under, we feel obligated to do so now,” she wrote.
The film Personality Crisis: One Night Only, directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, examined Johansen and his creation of punk music by examining the lead singer and composer via the perspective of the New York Dolls, a significant band that is regarded as one of the first in the genre.
At a screening event at the time, he told Deadline, “I only cringed two or three times during this film.”
He then started a band of the same name and changed his name to Buster Poindexter in the 1980s. Later, he founded The Harry Smiths, touring the world while embracing his love of blues and folk music.
He is also well-known for a few movies, including as the Richard Dreyfuss-starring racetrack comedy Let it Ride and the Christmas classic Scrooged, which starred Bill Murray.
We shall always remember David Johansen as a musical innovator and punk hero. His influence on rock and blues, from Buster Poindexter to the New York Dolls, is indisputable. Honor his remarkable career, music, and life. For more information about his incredible journey and a poignant tribute, see our website.
