David Johansen, the versatile, multitalented lead singer and last surviving original member of the seminal proto-glam-punk band New York Dolls who also found fame in the 1980s and ’90s as the throwback crooner Buster Poindexter, has died at 75.
Johansen died on Friday afternoon in his bedroom, surrounded by flowers and music and holding hands with his wife, Mara Hennessey, and stepdaughter Leah Hennessey, Mara confirmed to ABC News.
“We had a marvelous adventure of a life together. he was an extraordinary man. So grateful we went public with news of his illness before his passing as the past couple of weeks have been full of messages and love from family, friends, & fans,” Mara told ABC News in a statement.
Leah revealed in February 2025 that Johansen had “been in intensive treatment for stage 4 cancer for most of the past decade,” which had spread to his brain five years earlier. She said Johansen had also broken his back in two places in a fall down stairs the day after Thanksgiving 2024.
“Due to the trauma, David’s illness has progressed exponentially and my mother is caring for him around the clock,” Leah wrote on the website for the Sweet Relief Musician’s Fund, the nonprofit charity that provides financial and other assistance for musicians in need.
“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,” Johansen said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “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.”
Born Jan. 9, 1950, in the New York City borough of Staten Island, Johansen performed with local bands before joining what was then known as the Dolls in 1971 as their singer and songwriter. Changing their name to New York Dolls, the band made a singular splash on the New York music scene with their stripped, hard-driving sound, coupled with an androgynous, over-the-top stage presence boasting big hair, makeup, high heels, velvet and spandex.
New York Dolls never achieved widespread commercial success during their 1970s heyday and disbanded in 1976 after years of tumult and personnel changes, having recorded only two albums – New York Dolls and Too Much Too Soon – both of which featured Johansen on lead vocals and with the majority of the tracks either written or co-written by him. Yet despite their abbreviated tenure, New York Dolls exerted a galvanizing, incalculable foundational influence on early punk and glam rock, with artists as diverse as Blondie, Aerosmith, Sex Pistols, KISS, the Clash, David Bowie, Morrissey, Billy Idol, R.E.M., Joan Jett and many others citing them as inspiration.
The Dolls’ visual aesthetic in particular helped birth the 1980s hair metal scene, with their look emulated by bands like Poison, Twisted Sister and Mötley Crüe.
Though they were never inducted, New York Dolls were nominated three times for inclusion in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: in 2001, 2021 and 2022.
After several years as a solo artist, Johansen rebranded himself in the 1980s as the tuxedoed, pompadour-topped throwback lounge singer Buster Poindexter. With his band The Banshees of Blue, he scored a modest Billboard Hot 100 hit with his 1987 jive-infused cover of the dance song “Hot Hot Hot,” Johansen’s only hit single.
Johansen recorded four albums as the ebullient Poindexter, becoming in the process a frequent late-night talk show presence. He also performed as Poindexter with the Saturday Night Live house band for the show’s 1986-87 season.
Johansen continued in later years to perform and record both solo and with various other bands, including his own blues outfit, The Harry Smiths, in the early 2000s. He briefly reunited around the same time with former New York Dolls members, recording three more albums and performing occasional live gigs and tours.
Johansen also enjoyed a career as an actor, including a memorable turn as the cigar-chomping, wisecracking, cab-driving Ghost of Christmas Past opposite Bill Murray in the 1988 hit comedy Scrooged.
In 2023, Johansen’s half-century of influence on music was celebrated in a documentary titled Personality Crisis: One Night Only, directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, which featured footage of a January 2020 performance of Johansen’s cabaret show at the Café Carlyle in New York, in celebration of his 70th birthday.
“Vegetarian, straight, gay, whatever,” Johansen said of his legacy in the film’s trailer. “I just wanted to bring those walls down and have a party.”
Johansen was married three times and divorced twice. He’s survived by his wife, artist Mara Hennessey, whom he wed in 2013, and their daughter.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
