Former New York Dolls frontman David Johansen has died after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 75.
“David Johansen died at home in NYC on Friday afternoon holding hands with his wife Mara Hennessey and daughter Leah, surrounded by music, flowers and love,” a spokesperson for the musician told Rolling Stone in a Saturday, March 1, statement. “He was 75 years old and died of natural causes after nearly a decade of illness.”
Johansen’s daughter, Leah, confirmed earlier in February that the musician was battling stage four cancer and a brain tumor.
“David is a legend but he’s also my very real very sick dad,” Leah wrote via her Instagram Story on February 10. “I have so much to say but I guess I’ll be posting about this alot and I don’t have to say it all now.”
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She added, “I know how dire so many of our situations are right now, and how much fundraising literally everyone is doing but if you love David or any of the magick [sic] he’s brought into the world please just take a minute to read this or share it. Thank you guys as always.”
At the time, Leah shared a link to a GoFundMe campaign for her father in partnership with Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. (Sweet Relief provides financial assistance to musicians facing respective health battles.)
“As some, but not many of you know, David has been in intensive treatment for stage 4 cancer for most of the past decade,” Leah explained. “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.”
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According to Leah, Johansen fell down the stairs in November 2024, which left him “bedridden and incapacitated.”
“Due to the trauma, David’s illness has progressed exponentially and my mother is caring for him around the clock,” she continued. “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.”
Johansen spoke out that same day, telling Rolling Stone that he had been “living with [his] illness for a long time.”
Johansen, who is survived by his wife and daughter, had cofounded the New York Dolls in 1971. He was also known under his pseudonym, Buster Poindexter.
