NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� the wiry, gravelly-voiced singer and last surviving member of the glam and protopunk band the New York Dolls who later performed as his campy, pompadoured alter ego, Buster Poindexter, has died. He was 75.
Johansen died Friday at his home in New York City, Jeff Kilgour, a family spokesperson told The Associated Press. It was revealed in early 2025 that he had stage 4 cancer and a brain tumor.
The New York Dolls were forerunners of punk and the band鈥檚 style 鈥� teased hair, women's clothes and lots of makeup 鈥� inspired the glam movement that took up residence in heavy metal a decade later in bands like Faster Pussycat and M枚tley Cr眉e.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e an artist, the main thing you want to do is inspire people, so if you succeed in doing that, it鈥檚 pretty gratifying,鈥� Johansen told The Knoxville News-Sentinel in 2011.
Guitarist Steve Stevens, a kid from Queens who went on to work with Billy Idol and Robert Palmer, said the Dolls were never about technique: 鈥淚t was always about the sound of the subway, the stinking, overflowing garbage cans, the misfits of Times Square. The Dolls did it to perfection. Safe travels David Johansen,鈥� he wrote on X.
鈥楳utant children of the hydrogen age鈥�
Rolling Stone once called the Dolls 鈥渢he mutant children of the hydrogen age鈥� and Vogue called them the 鈥渄arlings of downtown style, tarted-up toughs in boas and heels.鈥�
鈥淭he New York Dolls were more than musicians; they were a phenomenon. They drew on old rock 鈥榥鈥� roll, big-city blues, show tunes, the Rolling Stones and girl groups, and that was just for starters,鈥� Bill Bentley wrote in 鈥淪mithsonian Rock and Roll: Live and Unseen.鈥�
The band never found commercial success and was torn by internal strife and drug addictions, breaking up after two albums by the middle of the decade. In 2004, former Smiths frontman and Dolls admirer Morrissey convinced Johansen and other surviving members to regroup for the Meltdown Festival in England, leading to three more studio albums.
In the 鈥�80s, Johansen assumed the persona of Buster Poindexter, a pompadour-styled lounge lizard who had a hit with the kitschy party single 鈥淗ot, Hot, Hot鈥� in 1987. He also appeared in such movies as 鈥淐andy Mountain,鈥� 鈥淟et It Ride,鈥� 鈥淢arried to the Mob鈥� and had a memorable turn as the Ghost of Christmas Past in Bill Murray-led hit 鈥淪crooged.鈥�
Johansen was in 2023 the subject of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi鈥檚 documentary which mixed footage of his two-night stand at the Caf茅 Carlyle in January 2020 with flashbacks through his wildly varied career and intimate interviews.
鈥淚 used to think about my voice like: 鈥榃hat鈥檚 it gonna sound like? What鈥檚 it going to be when I do this song?鈥� And I鈥檇 get myself into a knot about it,鈥� Johansen told The Associated Press in 2023. 鈥淎t some point in my life, I decided: 鈥楯ust sing the (expletive) song. With whatever you got.鈥� To me, I go on stage and whatever mood I鈥檓 in, I just claw my way out of it, essentially.鈥�
Named after a toy hospital
David Roger Johansen was born to a large, working class Catholic family on Staten Island, his father an insurance salesman. He filled notebooks with poems and lyrics as a young man and liked a lot of different music 鈥� R&B, Cuban, Janis Joplin and Otis Redding.
The Dolls 鈥� the final original lineup included guitarists Sylvain Sylvain and Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane and drummer Jerry Nolan 鈥� rubbed shoulders with Lou Reed and Andy Warhol in the Lower East Side of Manhattan the early 1970s.
They took their name from a toy hospital in Manhattan and were expected to take over the throne vacated by the Velvet Underground in the early 1970s. But neither of their first two albums 鈥� 1973鈥檚 鈥淣ew York Dolls,鈥� produced by Todd Rundgren, nor 鈥淭oo Much Too Soon鈥� a year later produced by Shadow Morton 鈥� charted.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e definitely a band to keep both eyes and ears on,鈥� read the review of their debut album in Rolling Stone, complementary of their 鈥渟trange combination of high pop-star drag and ruthless street arrogance.鈥�
Their songs included 鈥淧ersonality Crisis鈥� (鈥淵ou got it while it was hot/But now frustration and heartache is what you got鈥�), 鈥淟ooking for a Kiss鈥� (I need a fix and a kiss鈥�) and a 鈥淔rankenstein鈥� (Is it a crime/For you to fall in love with Frankenstein?鈥�)
Their glammed look was meant to embrace fans with a nonjudgmental, noncategorical space. 鈥淚 just wanted to be very welcoming,鈥� Johansen said in the documentary, 鈥溾�檆ause the way this society is, it was set up very strict 鈥� straight, gay, vegetarian, whatever... I just kind of wanted to kind of like bring those walls down, have a party kind of thing.鈥�
Rolling Stone, reviewing their second album, called them 鈥渢he best hard-rock band in America right now鈥� and called Johansen a 鈥渢alented showman, with an amazing ability to bring characters to life as a lyricist.鈥�
Decades later, the Dolls鈥� influence would be cherished. Rolling Stone would list their self-titled debut album at No. 301 of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, writing 鈥渋t鈥檚 hard to imagine the Ramones or the Replacements or a thousand other trash-junky bands without them.鈥�
Blondie鈥檚 Chris Stein in the Nolan biography 鈥淪tranded in the Jungle鈥� wrote that the Dolls were 鈥渙pening a door for the rest of us to walk through.鈥� Tommy Lee of Motley Crue called them early inspirations.
鈥淛ohansen is one of those singers, to be a little paradoxical, who is technically better and more versatile than he sounds,鈥� said the Los Angeles Times in 2023. 鈥淗is voice has always been a bit of a foghorn 鈥� higher or lower according to age, habits and the song at hand 鈥� but it has a rare emotional urgency.
'Dirty angels with painted faces'
The Dolls, representing rock at it鈥檚 most debauched, were divisive. In 1973, they won the Creem magazine poll categories as the year鈥檚 best and worst new group. They were nominated several times for The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame but never got in.
鈥淒irty angels with painted faces, the Dolls opened the box usually reserved for Pandora and unleashed the infant furies that would grow to become Punk,鈥� wrote Nina Antonia in the book 鈥淭oo Much, Too Soon.鈥� 鈥淎s if this legacy wasn鈥檛 enough for one band, they also trashed sexual boundaries, savaged glitter and set new standards for rock 鈥榥鈥� roll excess.鈥�
By the end of their first run, the Dolls were being managed by legendary promoter Malcolm McLaren, who would later introduce the Sex Pistols to the Dolls鈥� music. Culture critic Greil Marcus in 鈥淟ipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century鈥� writes the Dolls played him some of their music and he couldn鈥檛 believe how bad they were.
鈥淭he fact that they were so bad suddenly hit me with such force that I began to realize, 鈥欌�橧鈥檓 laughing, I鈥檓 talking to these guys, I鈥檓 looking at them, and I鈥檓 laughing with them; and I was suddenly impressed by the fact that I was no longer concerned with whether you could play well,鈥� McLaren said. 鈥淭he Dolls really impressed upon me that there was something else. There was something wonderful. I thought how brilliant they were to be this bad.鈥�
After the first demise of the Dolls, Johansen started his own group, the before reinventing himself yet again in the 1980s as
Inspired by his passion for the blues and arcane American folk music Johansen also formed the group , and toured the world performing the songs of Howlin鈥� Wolf with Hubert Sumlin and Levon Helm. He also hosted the weekly radio show 鈥淭he Mansion of Fun鈥� on Sirius XM and painted.
He is survived by his wife, Mara Hennessey, and a stepdaughter, Leah Hennessey.
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
