American singer, songwriter, and actor David Johansen, best known as the lead singer of the seminal proto-punk band the New York Dolls, died at 75.
His spokesperson, Carla Parisi of Kid Logic Media, shared this via email. David “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,” according to a statement.
The statement said that Johansen “died of natural causes after nearly a decade of illness,” but the musician had also recently revealed that he had been living with stage 4 cancer. At the time, his daughter, Leah Hennessey, launched a Sweet Relief fundraiser to help cover the costs of his care and medical treatment.
He is also known for his work under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter and for playing the Ghost of Christmas Past in Scrooged (1988). Johansen shared his first solo album, a self-titled effort, in 1978, and he went on to release several more records in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Eventually, he adopted the persona of Buster Poindexter. As Poindexter, he scored his first real hit, a cover of Arrow’s “Hot Hot Hot.”
David Johansen, New York Dolls Singer, Died at 75
