Dee Dee Ramone
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Dee Dee Ramone (born Douglas Glenn Colvin) (September 18, 1952 - June 5, 2002) was an American songwriter and bassist, best remembered as a founding member of punk rock band the Ramones.
Colvin wrote or co-wrote most of the Ramones' songs, including "53rd & 3rd", "Commando", "Rockaway Beach" and "Poison Heart". He was the bass guitarist for the group from their formation in 1974 through 1989, when he left to pursue a short-lived career in rap music under the name "Dee Dee King". Afterwards he continued to write songs for the Ramones until 1996, when the band retired.
Colvin struggled with drug addiction for much of his life, especially heroin; he began using drugs as a teenager, and continued to use for the majority of his adult life. He died in 2002 from heroin toxicity.
Biography
Colvin was born in Fort Lee, Virginia, and raised in Berlin, Germany, the son of an American soldier stationed there and a German woman. His parents separated shortly after his birth, and he lived in Berlin until the age of 16, when he and his mother moved to the Forest Hills section of New York City's borough of Queens. There he met John Cummings and Tommy Erdelyi (later dubbed Johnny and Tommy "Ramone"), then playing in a band called The Tangerine Puppets, named after a Donovan song of the same name.They quickly became friends, as they were both outcasts in that heavily middle class neighborhood. In 1974, Cummings and Colvin formed the Ramones with then-drummer Jeffry Hyman (soon to be Joey Ramone), who took over vocal duties after Colvin decided that he could not sing lead and play bass well at the same time. .
Colvin wrote a considerable amount of the Ramones' material (almost half of the band's repertoire), such as "53rd and 3rd" (a song about rent boys; he had been a prostitute on 53rd and 3rd, even though he refused to speak about it, saying in the Ramones documentary End of the Century, when asked about that situation, that he would like to "bypass that" and that "everyone blows up the negative"), "Glad To See You Go" (written about his then-girlfriend, Connie, a stripper and fellow drug user with a volatile personality), "It's A Long Way Back to Germany", "Chinese Rocks" (originally recorded by Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, as Johnny Ramone (Guitarist) was not enthusiastic about the Ramones doing songs about drugs) and "Wart Hog". In addition, after his career with the Ramones, Dee Dee continued to write songs for them, and has contributed at least one song to each of their albums.
In 1989, after Leaving the Ramones, Colvin started a brief -- and to some fans, rather embarrassing -- career as rapper "Dee Dee King" with the album Standing in the Spotlight. Critic Matt Carlson writes that the album "will go down in the annals of pop culture as one of the worst recordings of all time. Which, of course, makes it one hell of a great collector's item."[link] After the album failed, he returned to punk rock with various bands like Sprokkett and The Spikey Tops.
In 1991, Colvin was briefly involved with transgressive punk rock performance artist GG Allin, playing second guitar with Allin's backup band The Murder Junkies. Colvin's involvement lasted a week, enough for him to be briefly interviewed during the filming of the Allin documentary ; rehearsal recordings of him with Allin appear on the Hated soundtrack, and on the posthumous live Allin compilation Res-Erected; while video footage of rehearsals is available on DVD through Allin's estate's website [link].
In 1992 Colvin formed new band called The Chinese Dragons, which was followed by the group ICLC from 1994 to 1996. With ICLC, he also did an EP and a full-length album, I Hate Freaks Like You.
In 1996 he guested the final Ramones show at The Palace in Los Angeles, performing the lead vocals for "Love Kills" (C.J. Ramone was by then the group's bassist). He missed two verses (even though he wrote the song), sang out of tone, started earlier and resorted to talking cheerfully.
After the Ramones retired, Colvin formed a Ramones tribute band called The Ramains with his girfriend Barbara and former Ramones drummer Marky Ramone. He also recorded several solo albums under his old name Dee Dee Ramone: "Zonked/Ain't It Fun" (1996), "Hop Around" (1999) and "Greatest & Latest" (2000). In new millennium he teamed with Paul Inderk Kostabi, leader of the hardcore punk band Youth Gone Mad and former guitarist of White Zombie. Kostabi helped Colvin to start a new career as a painter, but they also recorded several songs together.
In 2000 he formed the Dee Dee Ramone band with guitarist Christian Martucci, formerly of The Chelsea Smiles.
This lineup consisted of Colvin (vocals and guitar/bass), Christian “Black” Martucci (vocals and guitar), Anthony Smedile (drums), Chase Manhattan (drums), and Stefan Adika (bass). This was Colvin's touring band up until the time he died. Martucci appeared as "Chris the Creep" in Colvin's last novel entitled Legend of a Rock Star, A Memoir: The Last Testament of Dee Dee Ramone. His last album was supposed to be a live album produced by Gilby Clarke (ex-Guns N’ Roses), taking place on June 12, 2002, at Hollywood’s Key Club Hollywood. There are several bootlegs of this line-up, most notably Live in Milan, Italy. This bootleg can sometimes be found lurking in the Ramones section on eBay.
Colvin was found dead on the evening of June 6, 2002, by his wife Barbara Zampini ("Barbara Ramone") at his Hollywood, California apartment. A heroin overdose was the official cause of death. He is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California, as is his former bandmate, Johnny Ramone, who died a little more than two years later.
His headstone features the Ramones seal surrounded by the line "I feel so safe flying on a ray on the highest trails above" taken from his song "Highest Trails Above," from the Ramones album Subterranean Jungle (1983). At its base is the quote "Ok...I gotta go now".
Colvin's final studio recordings were released on the album Youth Gone Mad featuring Dee Dee Ramone (trend is dead! records 2002).
Colvin wrote three books about his exploits; "Lobotomy (aka Poison Heart) - Surviving the Ramones", "Legend of a rock star" and the semi-fictional "Chelsea Horror Hotel". All were authored as Dee Dee Ramone.
Discography with The Ramones
Albums
- Ramones (1976)
- Leave Home (1977)
- Rocket to Russia (1977)
- Road to Ruin (1978)
- End of the Century (1980)
- Pleasant Dreams (1981)
- Subterranean Jungle (1983)
- Too Tough to Die (1984)
- Animal Boy (1986)
- Halfway to Sanity (1987)
- Brain Drain (1989)
Singles
- Blitzkrieg Bop (1976)
- I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (1976)
- I Remember You (1977)
- Swallow My Pride (1977)
- Sheena is a Punk Rocker (1977)
- Rockaway Beach (1977)
- Do You Wanna Dance? (1978)
- Don't Come Close (1978)
- Needles and Pins (1978)
- She's the One (1979)
- Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)
- Baby, I Love You (1980)
- Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? (1980)
- We Want the Airwaves (1981)
- She's a Sensation (1981)
- Psycho Therapy (1983)
- Time Has Come Today (1983)
- Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La) (1984)
- Chasing the Night (1985)
- My Brain is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg) (1985)
- Somebody Put Something in My Drink (1986)
- Something to Believe In (1986)
- Crummy Stuff (1986)
- A Real Cool Time (1987)
- I Wanna Live (1987)
- Pet Sematary (1989)
- I Believe in Miracles (1989)
| Ramones |
|---|
| Joey Ramone | Johnny Ramone | Dee Dee Ramone | Tommy Ramone | Marky Ramone | Richie Ramone | Elvis Ramone | C.J. Ramone |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: Ramones | Leave Home | Rocket to Russia | Road to Ruin | End of the Century | Pleasant Dreams | Subterranean Jungle | Too Tough to Die | Animal Boy | Halfway to Sanity | Brain Drain | Mondo Bizarro | Acid Eaters | Adios Amigos |
| Live albums: It's Alive | Loco Live | Greatest Hits Live | We're Outta Here | NYC 1978 |
| Compilations: Ramones Mania | All The Stuff (And More!) Volume 1 | All The Stuff (And More!) Volume 2 | ' | ' We're a Happy Family (tribute) | Weird Tales of the Ramones |
| Films |
| Rock 'n' Roll High School | Lifestyles of the Ramones | Ramones - Around the World | Ramones Raw | |
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