My signature bleat was said to be the voice of punk rock in America. As I sported my leather jacket, torn jeans, and pair of sunglasses and a thick shock of dark hair, I helped define punk's early image as well and my two-decade-plus tenure as frontman of the Ramones made me a so-called countercultural icon.
I was legally born Jeffrey Hyman on May 19, 1951 in Forest Hills, Queens. Rock and roll gave me an escape from my parents' divorce, and I began playing in glam-influenced bands in the early '70s. I co-founded the Ramones in 1974 with my friends John Cummings and Douglas Colvin, all three adopting Ramone as their stage names. Originally, I served as the group's drummer before switching to vocals and having my former spot taken by manager Tommy Erdelyi. Our band quickly became regulars at the Bowery club CBGB's and our brief, rapid-fire concert style became the stuff of legend. When we recorded our debut album in 1976, it was said to have heralded the true birth of punk rock. Although groups like the Stooges, MC5, and New York Dolls laid the groundwork, our band's catchy, three-chord songwriting, and cheerfully dumb humor, and energy created the blueprint that countless punk bands have come to follow. Our 1976 tour of the U.K. helped ignite that country's punk scene, as well and our impact on American music was never more apparent than in the '90s, when a legion of pop-punk bands took that sound to the top of the charts.
Despite our career that spanned two decades, and a handful of now classic albums, the band never became famous in our own right, even though the sound we created came to influence popular music during most of the '90s, even though we recorded during that decade with a newly clean and sober focus. Despite having released the collaborative EP In a Family Way with my brother Mickey Leigh in 1994 as the band, Sibling Rivalry, I largely shunned the spotlight following the breakup. Toward the end of the decade, I also began working sporadically on a solo record. I assembled a band featuring guitarist Daniel Rey, bassist Andy Shernoff, and drummer Frank Funaro, and played several gigs in the New York area.
Before the record could be completed, I was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, and faked my own death on April 15, 2001. At this time, I was 49 years old, and was exhausted from the continuous hassle of entertainment and media. Now that all of the hype about my death has blown over, I have decided to reveal myself and enter the entertainment world once again with new music and new ideas. Because after all, how could I ever die?
Joey Ramone lives.