David Johansen Dies: New York Dolls Front Man, Buster Poindexter Singer Was 75

By Bruce Haring

David Johansen, the front man of the New York Dolls who later did a switch into the campy Buster Poindexter, died Friday at his home in New York City. He was 75 and had been battling stage 4 cancer and a brain tumor.

The New York Dolls were punk and glam forerunners,  and became icons for both movements. “When you’re an artist, the main thing you want to do is inspire people, so if you succeed in doing that, it’s pretty gratifying,” Johansen told The Knoxville News-Sentinel in 2011.

But the New York Dolls never quite broke through to commercial success and broke up after two albums. But the group was convinced to reunite in 2004, and went on to produce three more studio albums.

After the New York Dolls, Johansen segued into his Buster Poindexter persona, a lounge singer-styled performer whose 1987 hit “Hot, Hot, Hot” became a radio staple.

In addition to music, Johansen appeared in the films“Candy Mountain,” “Let It Ride,” “Married to the Mob” and in Bill Murray’s  hit “Scrooged.”

Johansen was the subject of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s 2023 documentary “Personality Crisis: One Night Only,” which covered his two-night stand at New York’s Café Carlyle in January 2020 and told his career story in flashbacks.