David Johansen, Who Fronted the New York Dolls and More, Dies at 75; February 28, 2025

[mahatmakanejeeves]

The singer David Johansen in 2004. He was prolific in multiple genres, but his 1970s heyday with the New York Dolls had the most cultural impact. Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

David Johansen, Who Fronted the New York Dolls and More, Dies at 75
In the 1970s, he and the transgressive Dolls were proto-punk pioneers. He later refashioned himself as the pompadoured lounge lizard Buster Poindexter.

By Gavin Edwards
March 1, 2025
Updated 3:32 p.m. ET

David Johansen, the singer and songwriter who was at the vanguard of glam rock and punk as the frontman of the New York Dolls, died yesterday at his home on Staten Island. He was 75. … His death was confirmed by his stepdaughter, Leah Hennessey.

Mr. Johansen revealed last month that he was suffering from Stage 4 cancer, a brain tumor and a broken back. He announced a fund-raising campaign through the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund to assist with his medical bills, saying, “I’ve never been one to ask for help, but this is an emergency.”

Mr. Johansen was prolific in multiple genres, from blues to calypso, and achieved his greatest commercial success in the late 1980s and early ’90s with his pompadoured lounge-lizard alter ego, Buster Poindexter. But his 1970s heyday with the New York Dolls, a band of lipstick-smeared men in love with trashy riffs and tough women, had the most cultural impact, inspiring numerous punk, heavy metal and alternative musicians.

One of those musicians was the singer-songwriter Morrissey of the Smiths, who first witnessed the band as a 13-year-old living in Manchester, England. It was 1973, and the BBC was broadcasting a Dolls show. As the young Morrissey watched the Dolls flail through “Jet Boy,” he had what he called his “first real emotional experience,” according to Nina Antonia’s 1998 book, “The New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon.” Morrissey soon became the president of the band’s British fan club.

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Mr. Johansen, foreground, backstage with the New York Dolls in 1972, from left: Billy Murcia, Johnny Thunders, Arthur Kane and Sylvain Sylvain. P. Felix/Daily Express — Hulton Archive, via Getty Images

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David Johansen: 15 Essential Songs
March 1, 2025

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The Last of the Dolls

Sylvain Sylvain of the Proto-Punk New York Dolls Dies at 69
Jan. 16, 2021

A correction was made on March 1, 2025: An earlier version of this obituary referred incorrectly to a fund-raising campaign to help pay Mr. Johansen’s medical bills. It was through the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, not GoFundMe.

When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at [e-mail] more

[marble falls]

1. Just thinking about them and Johanson in particular.

[LuvLoogie]

2. He was great in the movie Let it Ride with

Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly.