Johnny Ramone life and biography

John William Cummings, better known by his stage name Johnny Ramone, was a guitarist and songwriter, best known for being the guitarist for the punk rock band the Ramones. He was a founding member of the band, and remained a member throughout the band’s entire career.

In 2003, he appeared as #16 on the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” list in Rolling Stone and on Time’s “10 Greatest Electric-Guitar Players.

Johnny was responsible for initiating one of the major sources of animosity within the band when he began dating and later married Joey's ex-girlfriend. Allegedly, this incident prompted Joey to write songs like, "The KKK Took My Baby Away", and, "She Belongs To Me", although it has been speculated that the song was actually written before the founding of the Ramones in 1974. Though the band remained together for years after this incident, relations between the two remained cold and verbal communication was almost non-existent between the two.

Years later, when Joey was in the hospital dying of cancer, Johnny refused to telephone him. He later discussed this incident in the film End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones, saying an attempt at such a reunion would have been futile. He did add that he was depressed for a week after Joey's death, and when pressed, acknowledged that this was because of the bond forged by the band. In their road manager Monte Melnick's book about his time with the Ramones, Johnny is quoted as having said "I'm not doing anything without him. I felt that was it. He was my partner. Me and him. I miss that."

Alongside his music career, Johnny appeared in nearly a dozen movies (including Rock 'n' Roll High School) and documentaries. He also made television appearances on such shows as The Simpsons (1F01 "Rosebud", 1993) and Space Ghost Coast to Coast (Episode 5 "Bobcat").

On September 15, 2004, Johnny Ramone died in his Los Angeles home at age 55 after a five-year battle with prostate cancer. Many of his friends and musical contemporaries came to pay their respects. After his death, his remains were cremated. A cenotaph was built in Hollywood Forever Cemetery, near the gravesite of former bandmate Dee Dee Ramone, who died of a heroin overdose in 2002.

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