Glam punk: singer of the glam-punk band New York Dolls dead

David Johansen, singer of the influential glam-punk band New York Dolls, is dead. He died on Friday in New York at the age of 75, as his daughter Leah Hennessey confirmed. “David Johansen died peacefully at home, on the hands of his wife Mara Hennessey and his daughter Leah, in sunlight, surrounded by music and flowers,” said Leah Hennessey to the magazine “People”. After a decade of profound health impairment, he died of natural death, it said.

It was not until February that Hennessey asked the fans of the US musician on Instagram for help because her father has had cancer for years. Five years ago, a brain tower was diagnosed with him. She started the donation campaign on the “Sweet Relief” page.

After Thanksgiving, Johansen also fell down a staircase and suffered two breaks in the back, wrote Hennessey at the time. The call said: “As funny and wise David is still, he is physically weak.” And need the help of specialists.

David and his family are “deeply touched by the love and support that they have experienced lately,” said Hennessey now. “He was grateful that he had the opportunity to stay in touch with so many friends and family before his death.”

In 1972 Johansen founded the New York Dolls (“Personality Crisis”) with punk organizers Johnny Thunder, which were often seen as one of the first US punk bands. In 1976 the band broke apart, in 2004 there was a reunion. Director Martin Scorsese (82) portrayed the singer in the music documentary “Personality Crisis: One Night Only”.

Johansen was also seen in several US films. The best known is his role as a spirit of the past Christmas alongside Bill Murray (74) in the Christmas comedy “The spirits I called …” (“Scrooged”/1988).