New York Dolls Frontman David Johansen Dies at 75 Following Cancer Diagnosis
This sucks. David Johansen, the 75-year-old frontman of the New York Dolls, sadly passed away yesterday (February 28) at home in Staten Island, New York.
On March 1, a representative from the Johansen camp released this statement:
“David Johansen died at home in New York City on Friday afternoon holding hands with his wife Mara Hennessey and daughter Leah, surrounded by music, flowers, and love. He was 75 years old and died of natural causes after nearly a decade of illness.”
It was just last month when Johansen shared the news of him living with stage 4 cancer and a brain tumor, though he was diagnosed back in 2020. Choosing to stay private on the matter (and who could blame him?), Johansen silently dealt with the illness over the years. Back in November of last year, a fall caused him to get surgery after breaking his back in two places. The surgery was successful but still left him debilitated.
There was a fundraising effort made through the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund to help with the medical bills, where he said the following about his condition at the time:
“We’ve been living with my illness for a long time, still having fun, seeing friends and family, carrying on, but this tumble the day after Thanksgiving really brought us to a whole new level of debilitation. This is the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. I’ve never been one to ask for help, but this is an emergency. Thank you.”
Johansen’s daughter said this of her father as his condition was worsening:
“He’s very, very sick, but he’s reading all the messages, and he’s getting in touch with people he hasn’t talked to in many years. The connection is probably the best thing for him right now — as it is for all of us.”He’s totally with us — mentally, emotionally, [but] he’s physically incapacitated.”
Johansen was the frontman of literally one of the best punk bands of all time. The legend had his toes dipped in quite a few different pools, like his various other music projects like David Johansen Band, The Harry Smiths, and Buster Poindexter, to his acting career. Many know him from the Christmas movie Scrooged and Let It Ride, working alongside Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss respectively. He also had a weekly SiriusXM radio show The Mansion of Fun. Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi recently made the documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only, where they celebrated Johansen’s knack for narratives and songwriting
