David Johansen, the former frontman of punk band New York Dolls, is reportedly afflicted with Stage 4 cancer and a brain tumor.
The punk rock legend's daughter confirmed the news in an online crowdfunding campaign, launched to support the “increasingly severe financial burden” incurred by Johansen's health care.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, the singer cum songwriter, who also served as the subject of Martin Scorsese's 2023 documentary, has a net worth of $200 Thousand. Johansen was also a part of the house band on Saturday Night Live, and he has six solo albums under his own name to his credit. Furthermore, he also worked as an actor in movies like Freejack and Mr. Nanny.
David Johansen's daughter says her dad is incapacitated as the singer himself pleads for help, says its an emergency: Read more
Leah Hennessey, David Johansen's daughter, said in an Instagram story that her father had been diagnosed in 2020, and following a bad fall he had in November, he is now bedridden. His back is broken in two places, requiring around-the-clock care. "David is a legend but he’s also my very real, very sick dad,” she penned on Instagram.
Hennessey is now partnering up with The Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, which is a 501-CS nonprofit charity, to launch the David Johansen Fund. In her crowdraising campaign, she revealed that the icon, who is now 75 years old, “has been in intensive treatment for stage 4 cancer for most of the past decade."
“He’s never made his diagnosis public, as he and my mother Mara are generally very private people, but we feel compelled to share this now, due to the increasingly severe financial burden our family is facing,” Hennessey wrote on the fundraiser. “To make matters worse, the day after Thanksgiving David fell down the stairs and broke his back in two places. After a week in the hospital and a successful surgery David has been bedridden and incapacitated. Due to the trauma, David’s illness has progressed exponentially and my mother is caring for him around the clock.”
In a statement shared with Rolling Stone, the singer expressed his woes on dealing with the illness:
“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. 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."
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David Johansen's band was infamous for experimenting with make-up and high heels, and their journey was the subject of Scorsese and David Tedeschi's Personality Crisis: One Night Only. Their New York Dolls band remains widely regarded as one of the pioneers of punk music.
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