Dee Dee Ramone's widow Barbara Ramone talks w Eric Blair. Dee Dee Ramone A Memorial Exhibition.2012 - Video
PUBLISHED:  Feb 25, 2013
DESCRIPTION:
I.C.L.C. would go on to promote the I Hate Freaks Like You album by touring 22 countries over a 10-month period. During this tour, in November 1994, Dee Dee met 16-year-old Barbara Zampini while searching for his lost guitar outside his hotel in Argentina.Zampini was a big fan of the Ramones and had been playing bass for two years, heavily influenced by Dee Dee's early work. They later married, and remained together until his death.

In January, 1995, the group had completed their 10-month tour and returned to their headquarters in Amsterdam to begin recording a second album. The group was soon dropped, however, by their record label, Rough Trade World Service. With this development, bassist John Carco left the group and moved to Los Angeles where he formed and played with Frankie O. and Pete Stahl (singer of D.C.H.C. group Scream) in the group Metro. Carco would later pursue an acting career. Songs written by Dee Dee and Carco for the never released second I.C.L.C. album would eventually be recorded by the Ramones on their final album Adios Amigos. One of these songs, Born to Die in Berlin, would ultimately be the final song on the final Ramones' album, and featured Dee Dee singing in German on the bridge of the song. Also the song Fix Yourself Up eventually recorded by Dee Dee on the album Zonked.

Dee Dee was also a special guest at the final Ramones' show at The Palace in Los Angeles on August 6, 1996, performing the lead vocals on the song "Love Kills".

Dee Dee formed a Ramones' tribute band called The Ramainz with his wife Barbara ("Barbara Ramone", bass) and former Ramones' member Marky (drums). They recorded an album, Live in NYC, released in Argentina, and played a couple of times with C.J. Ramone.

Dee Dee also recorded several solo albums under his old name Dee Dee Ramone. "Zonked!", the first album release under the Dee Dee Ramone moniker was re-titled "Ain't It Fun?" for the European release, but other than the addition of the bonus track "Please Kill Me", the music is identical. The line up for this album was Dee Dee Ramone on guitars and lead vocals, Marky Ramone on drums, longtime partner Daniel Ray producing and on guitars, and Barbara "Ramone" / Zampini on bass and lead vocals. Guests included Joey Ramone singing lead on "I am seeing UFOs", and The Cramps' vocalist Lux Interior doing the same on "Bad Horoscope".

The second solo-album was called Hop Around; the line-up consisted of Dee Dee Ramone, Barbara Ramone / Zampini, Chris Spedding on guitars and Billy Rogers on drums. Dee Dee also released Greatest and Latest, with Barbara, Spedding and Chase Manhattan on drums. This album consisted of re-recording of Ramones songs, a re-recorded solo song ("Fix Yourself Up", originally from Zonked! / Ain't It Fun?), cover-songs and an unreleased new solo-song ("Sidewalk Surfin'").

In the 21st century, Dee Dee teamed up with Paul Kostabi, leader of the hardcore punk band Youth Gone Mad and former guitarist for White Zombie. An established artist, Kostabi was instrumental in getting Dee Dee's new career as a painter off the ground. Together with Barbara, the trio collaborated on several hundred works that sold quickly for a few hundred dollars each. In 2012, the tenth anniversary of Dee Dee's death was observed by a show at a prominent art gallery in California.

On Halloween, 1998, while staying at the Hotel Chelsea, Dee Dee and Zampini met the Hollywood band SEXYCHRIST, which featured adult film star Kurt Lockwood. Lockwood encouraged them to move to Hollywood, and together the two bands shared a successful tour of the U.S. in early 1999. Afterwards, Dee Dee formed The Dee Dee Ramone Band, with members including Christian Martucci (vocals and guitar), Anthony Smedile (drums), Chase Manhattan (drums), and Stefan Adika (bass). With the exception of one show at the Spa Club in NYC and a Club Makeup performance, this would be his last touring band. Dee Dee would release a book, entitled Legend of a Rock Star, A Memoir: The Last Testament of Dee Dee Ramone, written while on tour in Europe in 2001.
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