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Johnny Thunders

Occupation:
Musician
Born:
07-15-1952
Died:
04-23-1991
Remembered Best As:
American rock and roll/punk rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of the New York Dolls. He later played with The Heartbreakers and as a solo artist.
Suicide/Overdose:
Overdose

Biography

After the original New York Dolls broke up, Johnny Thunders —who had been the Dolls' Keith Richards to David Johansen's Mick Jagger —and Jerry Nolan formed the Heartbreakers, first as a trio with former Television bassist Richard Hell, who soon left to lead his own band, the Voidoids. If the New York Dolls were a precursor to punk rockers, then the Heartbreakers served as a living bridge to it —updating classic Rolling Stones-style, sneering two-guitar rock in prototypical fast-and-furious style. With Thunders' shambling, drugged-out, foul-mouthed onstage charm, and songs like "Chinese Rocks" and "Too Much Junkie Business" celebrating the heroin-junkie lifestyle, these Heartbreakers could not be confused with Tom Petty's backup band

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