Sad news to report, less than two weeks after we reported that David Johansen had stage 4 cancer, the singer has passed away from the illness.
See below for the earlier report that we posted about Johansen and his daughters’ request for help with his rising medical bills:
Breaking news on New York Dolls’ Vocalist David Johansen direct from his daughter and with a link to help out if you can:
My name is Leah Hennessey, and I’m David Johansen’s daughter. As some, but not many of you know, David has been in intensive treatment for stage 4 cancer for most of the past decade.
Five years ago at the beginning of the pandemic we discovered that David’s cancer had progressed and he had a brain tumor. There have been complications ever since. He’s never made his diagnosis public, as he and my mother Mara are generally very private people, but we feel compelled to share this now, due to the increasingly severe financial burden our family is facing.
To make matters worse, the day after Thanksgiving David fell down the stairs and broke his back in two places.
After a week in the hospital and a successful surgery David has been bedridden and incapacitated. Due to the trauma, David’s illness has progressed exponentially and my mother is caring for him around the clock.
To continue his treatment and give him the best chance of recovery, David and Mara will need full time assistance. As hilarious and wise as David continues to be, he is physically debilitated and his care exceeds what we are capable of providing without specialized professional help.
David has worked continuously as a singer and actor for the better part of six decades, to the delight of his fans all over the world. However for the past five years, David has been unable to work as a performer.
Our most immediate needs are full time nursing, physical therapy and funding for day to day vital living expenses. With professional specialized care, we are hopeful that David can regain some mobility and independence.
My mother’s favorite acronym for God is “Grace Over Drama.” Together we have endured crisis after crisis, but with the support of our community we hope to carry on laughing and loving our way through this most trying of times. Thank you for embracing our family, and for your love and generosity.
David was recently the subject of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only which brilliantly captures an evening of David’s songs and storytelling, and gives a little context to the wild tapestry of David’s life. David was the lead singer and songwriter of the legendary New York Dolls, widely acknowledged as one of the first (and coolest) punk bands. David started his own group, the David Johansen band, before reinventing himself yet again in the 1980s as Buster Poindexter. Inspired by his passion for the blues and arcane American folk music David formed the group The Harry Smiths, and toured the world performing the songs of Howlin’ Wolf with Hubert Sumlin and Levon Helm. Of all these incarnations, David is most often recognized for his work in a handful of beloved films, like the Christmas classic Scrooged, and the race track comedy Let it Ride. He continues to host his weekly radio show “The Mansion of Fun” on Sirius XM. David had an exhibition of his paintings in New York this past summer at Elliot Templeton Fine Arts gallery.
Go Hear To Donate and Help David: https://www.sweetrelief.org/davidjohansenfund.html
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