Flaunt Weeekly
The last surviving member of the New York Dolls is also battling a brain tumor and requires around-the-clock care — the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund is raising money for his expenses
For the past five years, New York Dolls frontman David Johansen has been privately battling significant health setbacks. He has been diagnosed with stage four cancer and a brain tumor, and is bedridden and incapacitated following a fall in November where he broke his back in two places. He now requires around-the-clock care, which has put a severe strain on his finances.
On Monday, the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund launched the David Johansen Fund to raise money for the singer’s physical therapy, full-time nursing needs, and daily living expenses. His family hopes the money raised can help him regain some degree of mobility and independence as he battles cancer. A special David Johansen T-shirt has also been created by Sweet Relief. All the proceeds from the shirt will go toward his treatment.
“We’ve been living with my illness for a long time, still having fun, seeing friends and family, carrying on, but this tumble the day after Thanksgiving really brought us to a whole new level of debilitation,” Johansen says in a statement. “This is the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. I’ve never been one to ask for help, but this is an emergency. Thank you.”
The Sweet Relief Musicians Fund is a 501-CS nonprofit charity founded by Victoria Williams in 1994 when she needed help paying her medical bills after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. “Sweet Relief is honored to help David and his family during this difficult time in their lives,” says Aric Steinberg, Executive Director at Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. “Our Directed Artist Funds can provide a meaningful solution when the community rallies around the recipient, and we anticipate that David’s community will be eager to help here. His influence on the musical landscape with the New York Dolls is indelible, and his career as an actor and an artist has touched many people around the world. He’s been knocked down but we’re here to help him back up with the help of his family, friends and wider community of supporters.”
Johansen is best known for his work in the pioneering punk group the New York Dolls, but he also released several successful solo records. In the early Eighties, he began playing under-the-radar club shows where he billed himself as Buster Poindexter. In 1987, he scored an unlikely pop hit with a cover of Alphonsus Cassell’s “Hot Hot Hot” as his Poindexter persona. The following year, he had a memorable role as the Ghost of Christmas Past in the Bill Murray movie Scrooged.
In 2004, he reunited with the surviving members of the New York Dolls. They toured all over the world and cut three more albums before quietly dissolving in 2011. After the death of guitarist Sylvain Sylvain in 2021, Johansen became the last surviving member of the original band. In 2020, directors Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi filmed his show at New York’s Café Carlyle. It became the backbone of their 2022 documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only. It traces the story of Johansen’s entire life and career.
