David Johansen, the pioneering vocalist known for his work with New York Dolls and his persona Buster Poindexter, has died. He was 75 years old.
According to a statement from his publicist, Johansen “died at home in New York City on Friday afternoon holding hands with his wife Mara Hennessey and daughter Leah, surrounded by music, flowers, and love. He was 75-years-old and died of natural causes after nearly a decade of illness.”
Johansen had been battling stage four cancer and a brain tumor, and had kept the situation private for a number of years. After a fall that broke his back in two places last November, though, things had taken a turn for the worst, leading him to reveal his diagnosis and ask for financial help in January 2025.
Born David Roger Johansen on January 9th, 1950 in New York City, Johansen first rose to prominence performing with local groups on Staten Island. In 1971, he joined the then-emerging New York Dolls as their frontman, appearing on their two seminal releases from the decade: 1973’s New York Dolls and 1974’s Too Much Too Soon.
Though the band’s initial run only lasted a few years, New York Dolls left a lasting legacy on rock music, influencing subsequent groups like Sex Pistols, Kiss, Aerosmith, Green Day, and many more. In fact, the band’s many derivative projects helped lay the foundation of New York’s punk scene, paving the way for a generation of artists that included Talking Heads, Blondie, and others.
Later in life, Johansen would reflect on New York Dolls, describing their get-ups as “some really outrageous clothes” in a 1987 video (where he also joked that those “‘heavy mental’ bands in LA don’t have the market cornered on wearing their mothers’ clothes”).
On a deeper level, though, he recognized the innovative power and lasting effect the band had on popular music. Speaking to Terry Gross in 2004, he said, “We just wanted to make an explosion of excitement. So, that’s what was missing. Rock ‘n’ roll had become very kind of pedantic and meandering, and it was looking for something, but it was like an actor in search of a play or something, you know?”
In that same interview, he explained to Gross that the Dolls had a certain reputation in the annals of rock history. “[They] always say, ‘They were trashy. They were flashy. They were drug addicts. They were drag queens.’” Yet, beneath the layers of status-quo-challenging, there was a gem of true brilliance. “Going back to it and deconstructing it, and then putting it back together again, I realized that, you know, it really is art,” he said.
By 1976, though, the group had splintered, and Johansen left New York Dolls to launch a solo career, releasing his self-titled debut album in 1978. He followed up with In Style in 1979, Here Comes the Night in 1981, and Sweet Revenge in 1984.
In the early ‘80s, too, he began another project devoted to traditional pop, jump blues, and novelty songs, using the name Buster Poindexter (chosen to avoid punk fans from recognizing his name and requesting his older music). As Poindexter, he toured and performed with a rotating crew of musicians, including backing vocalist Patti Scialfa.
In 1987, the Poindexter project accidentally struck gold with his cover of Arrow’s “Hot Hot Hot,” which went on to become a staple of karaoke nights, weddings, backyard luaus, Jimmy Buffett shows, and more. In his 2004 interview with Gross, he called the song “the bane” of his life.
Through the ‘80s and ‘90s, Johansen also had a career as an actor, appearing as the Ghost of Christmas Past in 1988’s Scrooged, as well as titles like Let It Ride, Mr. Nanny, Freejack, and more. In 2015, he appeared in Bill Murray’s A Very Murray Christmas.
In 2004, Johansen reunited with New York Dolls for another stint that lasted until 2011. That period saw them perform numerous shows, and release three additional albums: One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This in 2006, Cause I Sez So in 2009, and Dancing Backward in High Heels in 2011.
In his final years, Johansen kept a relatively low profile, but continued working. In 2023, he was the subject of a documentary directed by Martin Scorsese, Personality Crisis: One Night Only.
For more, watch the videos for New York Dolls’ “Personality Crisis” and Buster Poindexter’s “Hot Hot Hot” below.
