David Johansen
Encyclopedia
David Roger Johansen is an American
rock
, protopunk
, blues
, and pop
singer, as well as a songwriter
and actor
. He is best known as a member of the seminal protopunk
band The New York Dolls
and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym
Buster Poindexter.
to a librarian mother and an insurance sales representative father. Johansen's family was Catholic
. His mother was Irish American
and his father was Norwegian American
.
band the New York Dolls
. The Dolls only released two albums, their self-titled debut (1973), and Too Much Too Soon (1974). The bulk of the material was written by Johansen and guitarist
Johnny Thunders
. The Dolls were critics' darlings with a cult following, but their failure to break commercially may be due to their being ahead of their time in that their sound and image both anticipated and influenced aspects of the later 1970s' punk rock movement.
Drugs played a role in the departure of Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan
from the band in 1975. Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain
, along with Peter Jordan, Chris Robison and Tony Machine, continued on briefly, as they had already booked gigs as the New York Dolls. Later that year, Johansen embarked on a solo
career. His first two album
s, David Johansen and In Style, featured several enduring originals. His fellow ex-Doll Sylvain Sylvain
frequently performed with him, and his band covered many Dolls tunes in concert; his live albums Live It Up and The David Johansen Group Live document Johansen's reputation as an exceptional concert performer. The studio releases Here Comes the Night (which includes a signature number, "Heart of Gold") and Sweet Revenge again showcased his strengths as a writer of new material and featured a guest appearance by jazz saxophone player Big Jay McNeely
. A number of the songs on "Here Comes the Night" were co-written with South African musician Blondie Chaplin
. In 1982 Johansen was the opening act for The Who
at Shea Stadium.
, 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's Fresh Air
he called "the bane of my existence," owing to its pervasive popularity. "Hot Hot Hot" was initially written and recorded by Montserrat
ian Soca artist Arrow
. As Poindexter, Johansen often appeared with his band The Banshees of Blue. The initial Poindexter releases combined an eclectic selection of cover versions with Johansen's own compositions. Johansen/Poindexter went on to issue Buster Poindexter's Happy Hour, a CD of songs thematically linked by their subject matter: alcohol. Probably his most obviously jazz-influenced release to date, it also leaned towards '50s rock and roll. Following that came Buster Poindexter's Spanish Rocket Ship, a Latin album.
. 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. He also appeared in the MuppeTelevision segment of an episode of The Jim Henson Hour
. Among his more prominent roles are that of the wisecracking ghost of Christmas past in Scrooged
as well as the part of 'Looney' in the movie, Let It Ride
, playing opposite Richard Dreyfuss
. He was also in the movie based on the old television series Car 54, Where Are You?
. He can also be seen in the Jim White documentary film
Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus in which he does a version of "Last Kind Words" (by Geeshie Wiley
) while in a motel room. He also had a supporting role with Mick Jagger and Emilio Estevez in the movie Freejack
.
, who compiled the Anthology of American Folk Music
; "James Alley Blues" and some of the other songs covered on their eponymously titled debut come from the Anthology. Johansen's second album with the Harry Smiths is titled Shaker.
Johansen is currently touring with a re-formed version of the New York Dolls
. Owing to the success of the tour, in 2006 the Dolls released One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This, their first album in nearly thirty years. It was critic Robert Christgau
's choice for album of the year. Johansen hosts a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio
while continuing to write and perform.
In October 2007, Johansen participated in "The Staten Island Composers Project," featuring work by three musicians who call the island home: Mr. Johansen; Vernon Reid
, 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 conveying something of his connection to the island often referred to as New York City's forgotten borough. Mr. Johansen's opus, a cinematic and unabashedly romantic Adagio scored mostly for strings, is called "Mara Dreams the Moon Gate of Uncommon Beauty." Inspired by The Moon Gate of Uncommon Beauty, a round portal between two rockscapes in the Chinese Scholar's Garden at the Staten Island Botanical Gardens. In September 2009, he appeared on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, the Travel Channel TV program, in which he toured Staten Island with the program's host.
In addition to his own albums, Johansen contributed songs to the soundtracks of the films Times Square
and The Aviator ("Flowers of the City" and "Ain't Cha Glad" respectively) and guests on About Them Shoes, a CD by veteran blues man Hubert Sumlin
. Another non-album track of his, "Johnsonius", appears on the 1984 compilation A Diamond Hidden in the Mouth of a Corpse
and "The Rope (The Let Go Song)", a track recorded during the sessions for his eponymous first album but not included on that, surfaced on the B-side of the single, "Funky But Chic".
An artist noted for his musical unpredictability and versatility, Johansen has been a consistent blues enthusiast since the earliest days of the Dolls, with covers of songs by Bo Diddley
and Sonny Boy Williamson
having been among their earliest numbers. The 2006 Dolls CD Private World : The Complete Early Studio Demos 1972/3 featured the Dolls performing songs by Otis Redding
, Gary US Bonds, Chuck Berry
, The Shangri-Las
, and Muddy Waters
in addition to versions of songs from their two Mercury albums. Also featured on the CD was a previously unreleased Dolls number, "Endless Party".
During a career that has seen many changes, Johansen nevertheless has worked consistently with certain musicians, including Sylvain Sylvain
, drummer Tony Machine (a member of one of the later Dolls line-ups and a fixture in many David Johansen groups and throughout the Buster Poindexter period) and Brian Koonin, guitarist and banjo player with Buster Poindexter and The Harry Smiths as well as keyboard player with the New York Dolls
for the reunion gig and the One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This CD & tour.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, protopunk
Protopunk
Protopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of musicians who were important precursors of punk rock in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer, as well as a songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. He is best known as a member of the seminal protopunk
Protopunk
Protopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of musicians who were important precursors of punk rock in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential...
band The New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
and also achieved commercial success under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Buster Poindexter.
Early life
Johansen was born in the New York City borough of Staten Island, New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to a librarian mother and an insurance sales representative father. Johansen's family was Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
. His mother was Irish American
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
and his father was Norwegian American
Norwegian American
Norwegian Americans are Americans of Norwegian descent. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the later half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans according to the most recent U.S. census, and...
.
Career
Johansen began his career in the late 1960s as a lead singer in the local Staten Island band the Vagabond Missionaries and later in the early 1970s as the singer/songwriter in the protopunkProtopunk
Protopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of musicians who were important precursors of punk rock in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential...
band the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
. The Dolls only released two albums, their self-titled debut (1973), and Too Much Too Soon (1974). The bulk of the material was written by Johansen and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. , was an American protopunk guitarist, singer and songwriter.He came to prominence in the early '70s as a member of the New York Dolls...
. The Dolls were critics' darlings with a cult following, but their failure to break commercially may be due to their being ahead of their time in that their sound and image both anticipated and influenced aspects of the later 1970s' punk rock movement.
Drugs played a role in the departure of Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan
Jerry Nolan
Jerry Nolan was an American rock drummer, best known for his work with The New York Dolls and Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers.-Career:...
from the band in 1975. Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain
Sylvain Sylvain
Sylvain Sylvain is an American rock guitarist, most notable for being a member of the New York Dolls.-Early years:...
, along with Peter Jordan, Chris Robison and Tony Machine, continued on briefly, as they had already booked gigs as the New York Dolls. Later that year, Johansen embarked on a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
career. His first two album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s, David Johansen and In Style, featured several enduring originals. His fellow ex-Doll Sylvain Sylvain
Sylvain Sylvain
Sylvain Sylvain is an American rock guitarist, most notable for being a member of the New York Dolls.-Early years:...
frequently performed with him, and his band covered many Dolls tunes in concert; his live albums Live It Up and The David Johansen Group Live document Johansen's reputation as an exceptional concert performer. The studio releases Here Comes the Night (which includes a signature number, "Heart of Gold") and Sweet Revenge again showcased his strengths as a writer of new material and featured a guest appearance by jazz saxophone player Big Jay McNeely
Big Jay McNeely
Big Jay McNeely is an American rhythm and blues saxophonist.-Biography:...
. A number of the songs on "Here Comes the Night" were co-written with South African musician Blondie Chaplin
Blondie Chaplin
Terence William 'Blondie' Chaplin is a musician from Durban, South Africa who first became known to international audiences through his brief stint in the early 1970s as a singer and guitarist for The Beach Boys...
. In 1982 Johansen was the opening act for The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
at Shea Stadium.
Buster Poindexter
In the late 1980s, Johansen achieved a commercial breakthrough under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter, accompanied by The Uptown Horns, performing a mixture of jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, lounge
Lounge music
Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...
, calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
, and novelty songs, and appearing as part of the house band
House band
For the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...
on the television program Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. As Poindexter he scored his first hit song, "Hot Hot Hot," which in an interview on National Public Radio's Fresh Air
Fresh Air
Fresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...
he called "the bane of my existence," owing to its pervasive popularity. "Hot Hot Hot" was initially written and recorded by Montserrat
Montserrat
Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...
ian Soca artist Arrow
Arrow (musician)
Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell MBE was a calypso and soca musician who performed under the stage name Arrow, and is regarded as the first superstar of soca from Montserrat.-Early years:...
. As Poindexter, Johansen often appeared with his band The Banshees of Blue. The initial Poindexter releases combined an eclectic selection of cover versions with Johansen's own compositions. Johansen/Poindexter went on to issue Buster Poindexter's Happy Hour, a CD of songs thematically linked by their subject matter: alcohol. Probably his most obviously jazz-influenced release to date, it also leaned towards '50s rock and roll. Following that came Buster Poindexter's Spanish Rocket Ship, a Latin album.
Acting
Johansen acted in several films during the 1980s and 1990s, and had a brief role on the HBO drama OzOz (TV series)
Oz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes . It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by premium cable network HBO. Oz premiered on July 12, 1997 and ran for six seasons...
. He also appeared in the television series The Adventures of Pete & Pete
The Adventures of Pete & Pete
The Adventures of Pete & Pete is an American children's television series produced by Wellsville Pictures and broadcast by Nickelodeon. The show featured humorous and surreal elements in its narrative, and many recurring themes centered on two brothers both named Pete Wrigley, and their various...
in the episode "On Golden Pete," in which he played a park ranger. He also appeared in the MuppeTelevision segment of an episode of The Jim Henson Hour
The Jim Henson Hour
The Jim Henson Hour was a short-lived television series that aired on NBC in 1989. It was developed as a showcase for The Jim Henson Company's various puppet creations, including the popular Muppet characters. Only nine of the twelve episodes produced managed to air on NBC before the low-rated...
. Among his more prominent roles are that of the wisecracking ghost of Christmas past in Scrooged
Scrooged
Scrooged is a 1988 American comedy film, a modernization of Charles Dickens' novella, A Christmas Carol. The film was produced and directed by Richard Donner, and the cinematography was by Michael Chapman. The screenplay was written by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue...
as well as the part of 'Looney' in the movie, Let It Ride
Let It Ride (film)
Let It Ride is a 1989 comedy film. It stars Richard Dreyfuss as a normally unsuccessful habitual gambler who experiences a day in which he wins every bet he places...
, playing opposite Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Dreyfuss
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...
. He was also in the movie based on the old television series Car 54, Where Are You?
Car 54, Where Are You?
Car 54, Where Are You? is an American sitcom that ran on NBC from 1961 to 1963. Episodes had various directors, the most recognized being Al De Caprio. Stanley Prager and Nat Hiken also directed several episodes. Most of its filming was on location in The Bronx, and at Biograph...
. He can also be seen in the Jim White documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus in which he does a version of "Last Kind Words" (by Geeshie Wiley
Geeshie Wiley
Geeshie Wiley was an American female blues singer and guitar player. She recorded three records in the early 1930s...
) while in a motel room. He also had a supporting role with Mick Jagger and Emilio Estevez in the movie Freejack
Freejack
Freejack is a 1992 science fiction film directed by Geoff Murphy, starring Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, Rene Russo, Jonathan Banks, Grand L. Bush and Anthony Hopkins. Upon its release in the United States, the film received mostly negative reviews. The story was adapted from Immortality, Inc., a...
.
Later solo career
Johansen then turned to the rendition of country blues with his back-up group, The Harry Smiths. The group was named in tribute to Harry Everett SmithHarry Everett Smith
Harry Everett Smith was an American archivist, ethnomusicologist, student of anthropology, record collector, experimental filmmaker, artist, bohemian and mystic...
, who compiled the Anthology of American Folk Music
Anthology of American Folk Music
The Anthology of American Folk Music is a six-album compilation released in 1952 by Folkways Records , comprising eighty-four American folk, blues and country music recordings that were originally issued from 1927 to 1932.Experimental filmmaker and notable eccentric Harry Smith compiled the music...
; "James Alley Blues" and some of the other songs covered on their eponymously titled debut come from the Anthology. Johansen's second album with the Harry Smiths is titled Shaker.
Johansen is currently touring with a re-formed version of the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
. Owing to the success of the tour, in 2006 the Dolls released One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This, their first album in nearly thirty years. It was critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
's choice for album of the year. Johansen hosts a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
while continuing to write and perform.
In October 2007, Johansen participated in "The Staten Island Composers Project," featuring work by three musicians who call the island home: Mr. Johansen; Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid is an English-born American guitarist, songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Best known as the founder and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Living Colour, Reid was named #66 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.Critic Steve Huey writes, "[Reid's]...
, founder of the '80s rock-metal pioneers Living Colour
Living Colour
Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. Stylistically, the band's music is a creative fusion influenced by free jazz, funk, neo-psychedelia, hard rock, and heavy metal...
; and Galt MacDermot
Galt MacDermot
Galt MacDermot is a Canadian composer, pianist and writer of musical theatre. He won a Grammy Award for the song African Waltz in 1960. His most successful musicals have been Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona...
, best known as the composer of the musical Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
. The Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island commissioned the program and asked each artist to write 20 minutes of music conveying something of his connection to the island often referred to as New York City's forgotten borough. Mr. Johansen's opus, a cinematic and unabashedly romantic Adagio scored mostly for strings, is called "Mara Dreams the Moon Gate of Uncommon Beauty." Inspired by The Moon Gate of Uncommon Beauty, a round portal between two rockscapes in the Chinese Scholar's Garden at the Staten Island Botanical Gardens. In September 2009, he appeared on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, the Travel Channel TV program, in which he toured Staten Island with the program's host.
In addition to his own albums, Johansen contributed songs to the soundtracks of the films Times Square
Times Square (film)
Times Square is a 1980 film starring Trini Alvarado, Robin Johnson, and Tim Curry. The plot of the film essentially embodies a punk rock ethic - misunderstood youth forming a band and, through music, articulating their frustrations toward adult authority, personified in the film as parents, the...
and The Aviator ("Flowers of the City" and "Ain't Cha Glad" respectively) and guests on About Them Shoes, a CD by veteran blues man Hubert Sumlin
Hubert Sumlin
Hubert Sumlin is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer, best known for his celebrated work, from 1955, as guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band. His singular playing is characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic...
. Another non-album track of his, "Johnsonius", appears on the 1984 compilation A Diamond Hidden in the Mouth of a Corpse
A Diamond Hidden in the Mouth of a Corpse
A Diamond Hidden in the Mouth of a Corpse is a 1985 compilation released on the Giorno Poetry Systems label.-Track listing:...
and "The Rope (The Let Go Song)", a track recorded during the sessions for his eponymous first album but not included on that, surfaced on the B-side of the single, "Funky But Chic".
An artist noted for his musical unpredictability and versatility, Johansen has been a consistent blues enthusiast since the earliest days of the Dolls, with covers of songs by Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
and Sonny Boy Williamson
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
having been among their earliest numbers. The 2006 Dolls CD Private World : The Complete Early Studio Demos 1972/3 featured the Dolls performing songs by Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
, Gary US Bonds, Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
, The Shangri-Las
The Shangri-Las
The Shangri-Las were an American pop girl group of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966 they charted with often heartbreaking teen melodramas, and remain best known for "Leader of the Pack" and "Remember ".- Early career :...
, and Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
in addition to versions of songs from their two Mercury albums. Also featured on the CD was a previously unreleased Dolls number, "Endless Party".
During a career that has seen many changes, Johansen nevertheless has worked consistently with certain musicians, including Sylvain Sylvain
Sylvain Sylvain
Sylvain Sylvain is an American rock guitarist, most notable for being a member of the New York Dolls.-Early years:...
, drummer Tony Machine (a member of one of the later Dolls line-ups and a fixture in many David Johansen groups and throughout the Buster Poindexter period) and Brian Koonin, guitarist and banjo player with Buster Poindexter and The Harry Smiths as well as keyboard player with the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
for the reunion gig and the One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This CD & tour.
Solo
- 1978: David JohansenDavid Johansen (album)David Johansen is a 1978 album by the rock musician David Johansen and his first solo album following his tenure as lead singer of the New York Dolls. The album was released on Blue Sky Records, a sub-label of Columbia Records that was associated with Johnny and Edgar Winter...
- 1978: The David Johansen Group LiveThe David Johansen Group LiveThe David Johansen Group Live was originally a promotional-only LP released by David Johansen to help promote his solo career away from the New York Dolls. The nine tracks from the promotional LP were recorded on July 21, 1978 at the New York's Bottom Line...
- 1979: In StyleIn Style (David Johansen album)In Style is the second solo album released by former lead singer of the New York Dolls, David Johansen. The album was released in 1979 and is designed as a more-commercial album than Johansen's previously self-titled album, David Johansen. After Johansen released his first solo album, he received...
- 1981: Here Comes the NightHere Comes the Night (David Johansen album)Here Comes the Night is the third solo album for New York Dolls lead singer David Johansen. Released in 1981, Blondie Chaplin serves as the producer for the album...
- 1982: Live It UpLive It Up (David Johansen album)Live It Up, released in 1982, was the first live album released by David Johansen as a solo artist. However, by the time Live It Up was released, various bootlegs of Johansen's first band, the New York Dolls, were being heavily traded...
- 1984: Sweet RevengeSweet Revenge (David Johansen album)Sweet Revenge is a 1984 album released by David Johansen and the only Johansen album to be released on the Passport Records label. Following Sweet Revenge, Johansen switched his music career into his alter-ego, Buster Poindexter...
- 2000: David Johansen and the Harry SmithsDavid Johansen and the Harry SmithsDavid Johansen and the Harry Smiths is the first of two albums David Johansen released with the "Harry Smiths". The first of the two albums was released in 2000. David Johansen created the album following a folk scene that was taking place in the late 90's in New York City clubs...
- 2002: ShakerShaker (album)Shaker is the second and final album David Johansen recorded with the Harry Smiths. The album was released in 2002 by Chesky Records and continues highlighting the folk style music from the first album...
Buster Poindexter albums
- 1987: Buster PoindexterBuster Poindexter (album)Buster Poindexter is an eponymous album released in 1987 by Buster Poindexter, the alter ego of New York Dolls frontman David Johansen. Johansen re-recorded the track "Heart of Gold" as Buster Poindexter, which originally appeared on Johansen's 1981 solo album Here Comes the Night.-Track listing:#...
- 1989: Buster Goes BerserkBuster Goes BerserkBuster Goes Berserk is the second album from Buster Poindexter, an alter ego of singer David Johansen.It features his backing band "The Banshees of Blue," aided by "The Uptown Horns". Released in 1989, the album continued the "lounge rock" style of its predecessor, Buster Poindexter in covering...
- 1994: Buster's Happy HourBuster's Happy HourBuster's Happy Hour is the third album from Buster Poinddexter, the alter ego of singer David Johansen.Like his previous album Buster Goes Berserk, it features his backing band The Banshees of Blue, continues the "lounge rock" style of its predecessors in covering rhythm 'n' blues songs of the...
- 1997: Buster's Spanish RocketshipBuster's Spanish RocketshipBuster's Spanish Rocketship is the fourth album from Buster Poindexter, the alter ego of singer David Johansen. Following ...Rocketship, David Johansen returned to recording albums under his real name....
Compilation albums
- Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney FilmsStay Awake (album)Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films is a 1988 tribute album recorded by various artists performing songs from Disney films...
(1988), as "Buster Poindexter and The Banshees of Soul" - September Songs - The Music of Kurt Weill (1994/1997) - "Alabama SongAlabama SongThe "Alabama Song" was originally published in Bertolt Brecht's Hauspostille . It was set to music by Kurt Weill for the 1927 "Songspiel" Mahagonny and used again in Weill's and Brecht's 1930 opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny...
" - Stormy Weather: The Music of Harold ArlenStormy Weather: The Music of Harold ArlenStormy Weather: The Music of Harold Arlen is a compilation tribute album of Harold Arlen songs, released by Sony in February 2003 as a companion album to the film of the same name...
(2003) - "Kickin' the Gong Around" - Jim White Presents Music From Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2005) - "The Last Kind Words", with Larry Saltzman (Geechie Wiley cover)
Further reading
.. .- Steven MorrisseyMorrisseySteven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
- The New York Dolls, Babylon Books, Manchester, 1981
External links
- http://goto.glocalnet.net/newyorkdolls/
- David Johansen Resource
- [ David Johansen] at Allmusic
- [ Buster Poindexter] at Allmusic
- [ David Johansen and the Harry Smiths]
- [ Shaker]