David Johansen
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David Johansen (born January 9, 1950, Staten Island, NY) is an American rock, punk, blues and pop singer, songwriter and actor.
Originally influenced by Mick Jagger and by Rob Tyner of MC5, Johansen began his career as the singer of the protopunk band, the New York Dolls, in the early 1970s. The bulk of the material was written by Johansen and guitarist Johnny Thunders, who left in 1975.
After the dissolution of the final Dolls lineup in early 1977, Johansen embarked on a solo career. His first two albums, "David Johansen" and "In Style," featured original songs and were performed with bravado and wit in the live shows that followed. His fellow ex-Doll Syl Sylvain frequently performed with him, and his band covered many Dolls tunes. A number of Johansen-Sylvain standards which are now identified with the Dolls (e.g., "Frenchette" and "Funky But Chic") actually first appeared on vinyl on Johansen's solo albums.
His live albums "Live It Up" and "The David Johansen Group Live," confirmed his reputation as a great live act. The songwriting continued strong on the studio releases "Here Comes the Night" (featuring his signature song "Heart of Gold") and "Sweet Revenge." In the late 1980s belated commercial success came his way under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter, performing a mixture of jazz, lounge, calypso, and novelty songs and appearing as part of the house band on the television program Saturday Night Live. As Poindexter he scored his first hit song, "Hot Hot Hot" which, in an interview on National Public Radio he called "the bane of my existence," owing to its pervasive popularity. He can also be seen in the documentary film "Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus" in which he does a version of "James Alley Blues" from a motel room.
Johansen acted in several films during the 1980s and 1990s, and had a brief role on the HBO drama Oz. He also appeared in the television series The Adventures of Pete & Pete, in the episode On Golden Pete, in which he played a park ranger. One of his more memorable roles is of a wisecracking ghost of Christmas past in Scrooged. He then turned to the rendition of country blues with his backup group, The Harry Smiths. He is currently touring with a re-formed version of the New York Dolls. He also hosts a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio.
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