Via Metafilter: Johnny Ramone, guitarist and co-founder of famed New York punk band “The Ramones” has died at age 55. His publicist says he died in his sleep yesterday in Los Angeles, after battling prostate cancer for five years. Just this weekend, a tribute concert and cancer research fund-raiser was held in LA, to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary.
Ramone co-founded “The Ramones” in 1974 and the band quickly became a sensation. The Ramones were one of the original American punk rock bands, and sadly they never achieved the success of their imitators.
Johnny is the third member of the band to die, following Dee Dee & Joey Ramone.