David Johansen

At 74 years old, David Johansen has this physical status:

David Roger Johansen (sometimes spelled David Jo Hansen) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor who was born in January 9, 1950.

He is best known as a member of the New York Dolls, a seminal proto-punk group.

Buster Poindexter is also known for his work under the guise Buster Poindexter.

Early life

Johansen was born in the borough of Staten Island, New York, to a librarian mother, Helen, and an insurance sales rep father who had never performed opera. His mother was an Irish American and his father, a Norwegian American.

Personal life

In 1977, Johansen married actress Cyrinda Foxe but they divorced within a year in 1978. Johansen was married to photographer Kate Simon from 1983 to 2011.

Mara Hennessey married Johansen in 2013.

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Career

Johansen began his career in the late 1960s as a lead singer in a local Staten Island band called the Vagabond Missionaries, and then as the singer/songwriter in the New York Dolls in the early 1970s. The New York Dolls were in the Mercer's scene, appearing on the bill at a New Year's Eve 1972 concert with Ruby and the Rednecks. Two albums, the eponymous New York Dolls (1973) and Too Much Too Soon (1974), were released. The bulk of the text was written by Johansen and guitarist Johnny Thunders. The Dolls were well-received both academically and commercially, but they did not succeed commercially.

Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan were exiled from the band in 1975. After which Johansen embarked on a solo career, Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain, Peter Jordan, Chris Robison, and Tony Machine continued playing as the New York Dolls until 1976. Many timeless originals were featured on David Johansen's first two albums, In Style and In Style. In August 1978, his self-titled album reached No. 91 in Australia. Sylvain Sylvain performed often with him and his band played several Dolls songs in concert; his live albums Live It Up and The David Johansen Group Live document Johansen's reputation as an outstanding concert performer. Big Jay McNeely's guest appearance on "Heart of Gold" and Sweet Revenge showcased his abilities as a writer of new content and featured a guest appearance by jazz saxophone player Big Jay McNeely in this series. Many of the songs on Here Comes the Night were co-written with South African musician Blondie Chaplin. Johansen appeared at several U.S. East Coast concerts, Shea Stadium Queensborough, and Capital Centre in 1982.

Johansen achieved modest commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter name, accompanied by The Uptown Horns, who appeared on jump blues, traditional pop, swing, and novelty songs in the late 1980s. On Saturday Night Live, he appeared as part of the house band. In an interview with National Public Radio's Fresh Air, Poindexter scored his first hit song, "Hot Hot Hot," which he described as "the bane of my existence" due to its universal fame. Montserratian Soca artist Arrow first wrote and recorded "Hot Hot Hot" in a journal. Johansen performed with his band The Banshees of Blue in Poindexter. An eclectic mix of covers with Johansen's own work was included in Early Poindexter's collection. Johansen continued to discuss Buster Poindexter's Happi Hour, an album of songs thematically linked to alcohol, regardless of their subject matter: alcohol. Buster Poindexter's Spanish Rocket Ship, which concentrated on salsa and merengue music, was next.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Johansen appeared in many films, and in 2000, she appeared on the HBO drama series Oz. In the episode "On Golden Pete," in which he appeared as a park ranger, he appeared in the television series The Adventures of Pete & Pete. In an episode of The Jim Henson Hour, he appeared in the Muppet Television segment. Among his most notable roles are those of the wisecracking Ghost of Christmas Past in Scrooged, as well as the part of "Let It Ride" in the film Let It Ride opposite Richard Dreyfuss. Mr. Nanny starred Hulk Hogan and Sherman Hemsley, and John C. McGinley appeared in the film Car 54, Where Are You? based on the television series. When in a motel room, he can be seen in Jim White's documentary film Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus, in which he performs a version of Geeshie Wiley's "Last Kind Words." In the film Freejack, he appeared alongside Mick Jagger and Emilio Estevez. In the segment "The Cat from Hell," Halston (a hired hitman) appeared in the anthology film Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990). He appeared on "The Dutch Oven" (1985), where he sang "King of Babylon." In the Netflix special A Very Murray Christmas, Johansen most recently played the bartender. In the original Teen Titans animated film "Revved Up," Johansen lent his voice to the villain Ding Dong Daddy. In John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1971 film Up Your Legs Forever, Johansen's legs appeared. In Centaurworld, he also spoke to the Beartaur.

Johansen's band, The Harry Smiths, went from blue to blues. The group was named in honor of Harry Everett Smith, who compiled The Anthology of American Folk Music, and several songs were covered by the band. Shaker is Johansen's second album with the Harry Smiths.

Johansen reunited with Sylvain Sylvain and Arthur Kane of the New York Dolls in 2004. The New York Dolls' first album in nearly thirty years, as a result of the tour's success, One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This Is the First Album in Almost 20 Years. It was critic Robert Christgau's pick for album of the year. Cause I Sez So in 2009 and in 2011 Dancing Backward in High Heels were released.

On Sirius Satellite Radio, Johansen hosts Mansion of Fun, while continuing to write and perform. "From Africa to the Bayou of Louisiana, and from Duke Ellington to Billy Joe Shaver, the performance is truly free-form and eclectic." The Loft is available on channel 710 as of January 2020 (stream-only).

Johansen appeared on "The Staten Island Composers Project" in October 2007, presenting work by three artists who call the island home: Vernon Reid, the founder of the '80s rock-metal pioneers Living Colour; and Galt MacDermot, best known as the composer of the musical Hair. The Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island commissioned the program and asked each artist to write 20 minutes of music describing some of his ties to the island, which has been referred to as New York City's forgotten borough. "Mara Dreams the Moon Gate of Uncommon Beauty" is Johansen's opus, a cinematic and unashamedly romantic Adagio, who mainly scored for strings. In the Chinese Scholar's Garden at the Staten Island Botanical Garden, two rockscapes were inspired by The Moon Gate of Uncommon Beauty, a round portal between two rockscapes. In September 2009, he appeared on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, the Travel Channel television show in which he toured Staten Island with the program's host.

Johansen contributed to the soundtracks of the films Times Square and The Aviator ("Flowers of the City" and "Ain't Cha Glad") and guests on About Them Shoes, a CD by veteran blues man Hubert Sumlin, in addition to his own albums. "Johnsonius" is his latest non-album track and appears on the 1984 compilation "A Diamond Hidden in the Mouth of a Corpse and "The Rope (The Let Go Song), a track performed during the first New York Dolls' debut before breaking up and appearing on the B-side of the single "Funky But Chic," a track originally performed on his eponymous first album and released on the B-side.

Johansen has been a faithful blues fan since the Dolls' beginnings, with covers of songs by Bo Diddley and Sonny Boy Williamson among their earliest numbers. The Complete Early Studio Demos 1972/3 featured the Dolls, Gary U.S. Bonds, Chuck Berry, The Shangri-Las, and Muddy Waters, in lieu of sound recordings from their two Mercury albums. The "Endless Party" was also on the CD, a previously unveiled Dolls number.

Even Through the First Reunion and Tour, Johansen has worked closely with Sylvain Sylvain, drummer and founder of the New York Dolls, 1976-1976, and a fixture in several David Johansen bands and performances throughout the Buster Poindexter period) and Brian Koonin, guitarist and banjo player with Buster Poindexter and the Smiths, as well as keyboard player with the New York Dolls.

Showtime Documentary Films said on July 7, 2020, renowned filmmaker Martin Scorsese will direct a new feature film directed by Johansen.

Johansen unveiled a photo of "Sinking Ship" by Gypsy in September 2020 as part of Joe Biden's presidential election bid in the United States.

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