Drummer and producer Tommy Ramone, the last living founding member of the famous punk rock bank The Ramones passed away on Friday in his home in Queens New York, aged 62, after years of battling cancer.
His real name was Tamas(Thomas) Erdelyi, native of Budapest, Hungary. He emigrated to America in 1957 and grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, where he met and played with guitarist John Cummings (Johnny Ramone) in the Tangerine Puppets. The company later added Jeffrey Hyman (Joey Ramone) and DouglasColvin (DeeDee Ramone). At the same time, Tommy studied engineering and worked in Record Plant record company where in 1969 he helped in recording a Jimi Hendrix album.
Tommy participated in the first three historical albums of the punk rock bank «Ramones» (1976), «Leave Home» (1977) and «Rocket to Russia» (1977) and was co-producer on the last two albums. After his retirement from the Ramones he focused on studio work and was replaced by Mark Bell (Marky Ramone), a former member of Dust and Richard Hell’s Voidoids.
The Ramones disbanded in 1996 after a show in Hollywood. Joey died of lymphoma in 2001, Dee Dee passed away from a drug overdose in 2002 and Johnny passed away from prostate cancer in 2004. Since 2002, the legendary band has joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Tommy Ramone’s funeral will be held in a close family circle.
