David Johansen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| David Johansen | |
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 Johansen performing in Toronto concert, Feb. 18, '08
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | David Johansen |
| Born | January 9, 1950 |
| Origin | Staten Island, New York |
| Genre(s) | rock, punk, blues, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, actor |
| Instrument(s) | vocals |
| Years active | 1970 - present |
| Associated acts | New York Dolls |
David Johansen (born January 9, 1950, in Staten Island, New York) is an American rock, punk, blues and pop singer, as well as a songwriter and actor. He was a member of the seminal punk band The New York Dolls and also achieved commercial success using the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.
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[edit] Life
David Johansen, born on January 19th in 1950, lived a modest life as a young boy in the New York City borough of Staten Island. His father, John Johansen, worked hard as a fisherman, while his mother Barbara tended to young David. David was often spotted dancing naked as a lad, but problems of money would forever limit David's involvement in music. When his father was arrested in the fall of 1967 for smuggling 15 pounds of marijuana into the country, David found solace in the music of MC5 and the hope of one day following in the footsteps of his idol, Mick Jagger. Little did young David know that he was destined for an extrodinary musical career, recording hits like "Personality Crisis" with the New York Dolls and "Hot Hot Hot" as a solo artist later on. Johansen was an iconic musician in the early era of punk rock, creating a new style whose influence on other musicians anticipated and helped inspire the punk revolution.
[edit] Career
Originally influenced by Mick Jagger and by Rob Tyner of MC5, Johansen began his career in the early 1970s as the singer in the protopunk 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 modest cult following, but their failure to break commercially is often put down to their being ahead of their time.
Drugs played a role in Thunders' departure from the band in 1975. After the dissolution of the final Dolls line-up in early 1977, Johansen embarked on a solo career. His first two albums, 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.
In the late 1980s Johansen achieved a commercial breakthrough under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter, performing a mixture of jazz, lounge, calypso, and novelty songs, and appearing as part of the house band on the television program Saturday Night Live. As "Buster Poindexter" he scored his first hit song, "Hot Hot Hot," which in an interview on National Public Radio's Fresh Air he referred to as "the bane of my life," owing to its pervasive popularity. "Hot Hot Hot" was initially written and recorded by Montserratian-Antiguan Soca Artist Arrow. As Poindexter, Johansen often appeared with his band The Banshees of Blue.
Johansen acted in several films during the 1980s and 1990s, and had a brief role on the HBO drama Oz. 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. One of his more memorable roles is that of the wisecracking ghost of Christmas past in Scrooged. He was also in the movie based on the old television series "Car 54, Where Are You?". He can likewise be seen in the Jim White documentary film Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus in which he does a version of "James Alley Blues" (by Rabbit Brown) from a motel room.
Johansen then turned to the rendition of country blues with his back-up group, The Harry Smiths. The group was named by way of tribute to Harry Everett Smith, 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 called Shaker. He also had a supporting role with Mick Jagger and Emilio Estevez in the movie Freejack and a supporting role as Looney in the comedy Let It Ride.
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 (http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/deans06.php.) Johansen hosts a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio while continuing to write and perform.
[edit] Discography
- 1978 David Johansen
- 1978 The David Johansen Group Live
- 1979 In Style
- 1982 Live It Up
- 1982 Here Comes the Night
- 1984 Sweet Revenge
- 1987 Buster Poindexter
- 1989 Buster Goes Berserk
- 1994 Buster's Happy Hour
- 1997 Buster's Spanish Rocketship
- 2000 David Johansen and the Harry Smiths
- 2002 Shaker
[edit] Compilation Albums
- Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, 1988 (one of Various Artists), as "Buster Poindexter and The Banshees of Soul"
[edit] References
- Jacobson, Mark (September 20, 2002), “The Icon: Doll Face”, New York Magazine, <http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/music/features/music2002/n_7736/>.
- Rosen, Richard J. (July, 2000), “Rick Visits . . . David Johansen”, Stereophile, <http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/248/>.
- Rollins, Henry (September, 2006), “David Johansen”, Interview, <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_8_36/ai_n16740654>.
[edit] External links
- http://goto.glocalnet.net/newyorkdolls/
- David Johansen Online
- David Johansen at the Internet Movie Database
- David Johansen at the All Music Guide
- Buster Poindexter at the All Music Guide
- David Johansen and the Harry Smiths
- Shaker
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