RIP: Tommy Ramone, last remaining original Ramone, dies at 65 (1949-2014)

Saturday, July 12, 2014 at 3:09 AM (PST) by jaystone

Sad news out of the Ramones‘ camp in Queens this Saturday morning.

Thomas Erdelyi, better known to the world as Tommy Ramone, passed away late last night (7/11/14) at his home, where he had been receiving hospice care due to bile duct cancer. He was 65 years old.

The Hungarian-born Tommy Ramone began as the manager for the ground-breaking New York punk band, but quickly became the band’s drummer after Joey Ramone decided to become the band’s frontman and because, according to Dee Dee Ramone, “nobody else wanted to.” Tommy would appear on the band’s first three studio albums, Ramones (1976), Leave Home and Rocket To Russia (1977) and their first live album, It’s Alive (1979) before being replaced by Marky Ramone. He also served as producer on 1984’s Too Tough To Die.

Rest easy, Tommy. you’ll be missed.
**Editor’s note: This morning, we erroneously reported that Tommy was born in 1952. He was, in fact, born in 1949, making him 65 years old at the time of his death. Sorry for the goof.


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Comments (58)  

58 Comments

  1. mitchattitude
    mitchattitude7/12/2014 7:49 PM | Permalink

    And then there were none…. :(

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