Under the name "Johnny Volume", Genzale began performing in high school with "Johnny and the Jaywalkers"; after leaving that band, he joined "Actress", which featured future Dolls Arthur "Killer" Kane and Billy Murcia. "Actress" became the New York Dolls in 1971 and Genzale renamed himself Johnny Thunders.
After recording two critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful albums — The New York Dolls and Too Much Too Soon — the Dolls broke up. The early Dolls recordings are still in print today and continue to influence young bands with their trash/glam/punk attitude.
He formed The Heartbreakers with Dolls drummer Jerry Nolan, ex-Demons guitarist Walter Lure and Television bassist Richard Hell, who left soon after to form Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Hell was replaced by Billy Rath.
With Thunders leading the band, the Heartbreakers toured America and Britain, releasing one official album, L.A.M.F., in 1977. L.A.M.F. is a punk classic that documents the important bridge between the U.S. and U.K punk scenes. The group relocated to the UK, where their popularity was significantly greater than it was in the U.S., particularly among punk bands.
In late 1979 Thunders began performing in a band called Gang War. Other members included John Morgan, Ron Cooke, Philippe Marcade and former MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer. They recorded several demos and performed live several times before disbanding. Bootlegs of their demos and live performances are circulating; One semi-official live album, credited to Thunders and Kramer and titled Gang War, is easily available from specialist retailers.
Thunders recorded a number of solo albums beginning with So Alone in 1978. The album was laid down in drug laden sessions with all the swirling turbulence of an atomic explosion. The complex bittersweet sound is a standard that many bands aspire to emulate and it is universally hailed as Johnny Thunders' masterpiece. It featured guests such as Phil Lynott, Chryssie Hynde, Steve Marriott, Glen Matlock, Steve Jones, Walter Lure, Billy Rath, and Peter Perrett of The Only Ones. The core of the band on the album included Thunders, Lynott, Cook, and Jones. After its release, Thunders and Sex Pistols ex-bassist Sid Vicious played in the Living Dead for a short time. The CD version of the album contains four bonus tracks, including the single "Dead or Alive," one of Thunders' finest post-Dolls moments.
During the early '80s, Thunders re-formed The Heartbreakers for various tours; the group recorded their final album in 1984.
In 1985, he released Que Sera Sera, a collection of new songs that showed he could still perform convincingly. Three years later he recorded an album of rock and R&B covers with vocalist Patti Palladin, Copy Cats.
Thunders kept performing and recording until his death in 1991, but problems with heroin addiction kept his output and songwriting sporadic during the 1980s.
Thunders always had a loyal following. No doubt there would be many more fans if not for the uneven performances and lack of good publicity. The flood of bootleg recordings has never slowed. Amongst his last recordings were the live concerts in Japan that show a mature, and surprisingly clean, Johnny Thunders.
His final recording was a cover of "Born to Lose" with German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen, recorded some 36 hours before Thunders' death.
Many rumors surround Johnny's death at the St. Peter House in New Orleans, Louisiana in April, 1991. He apparently died of drug-related causes, but was it accidental or the result of foul play? According to the autobiography "Lobotomy: Surviving The Ramones" (pages 232-3), Dee Dee Ramone took a call in New York the next day from Stevie Klasson, Johnny's rhythm guitar player. "They told me that Johnny had gotten mixed up with some bastards. who ripped him off for his methadone supply. They had given him LSD and then murdered him. He had gotten a pretty large supply of methadone in England, so he could travel and stay away from those creeps - the drug dealers, Thunders imitators, and losers like that."
Not surprisingly, the police did not open a criminal investigation, writing it off as just one more dead junkie. What is known for certain is that Johnny's room (no. 37) was ransacked and most of his possessions were missing (passport, makeup, clothes). His body was positioned in an unnatural state, described by eyewitnesses as "like a pretzel," underneath a coffee table. Friends and acquaintances acknowledge he had not been using heroin for some time, relying on his methodone prescriptions. An autopsy was not conducted, so the true nature of his death will never be known.
The Heartbreakers were a punk rock group formed in New York in May 1975 by Johnny Thunders (vocals/guitar) and Jerry Nolan (drums) who had just quit the New York Dolls and Richard Hell (vocals/bass) who was forced out of Television, the band he had founded with Tom Verlaine, the same week. After a few shows they added Walter Lure (vocals/guitar) who had played with a group called the Demons. In 1976, Hell was either kicked out or quit, depending on who you believe, and was replaced by Billy Rath who according to legend was a gigolo. Hell went on to form his own band Richard Hell and the Voidoids
Arriving just as the UK punk scene was building momentum, they developed a following playing in and around London. The Sex Pistols invited them to open for them on the ill fated Anarchy Tour. They shortly signed up with Track Records. Their debut--and only--studio album, L.A.M.F., featured all the Heartbreakers' popular live songs. The release of the album put a huge strain on the band, because of anger among some band members over the poor quality of the mix. Several of the members of the band left at this point. The band reformed in 1979 for a few farewell shows at Max’s Kansas City with drummer Ty Stix stilling in for Nolan. The resulting live album Live at Max's Kansas City '79 is considered a Punk Rock classic.
The band re-formed occasionally to play at New York clubs until the death of Johnny Thunders in 1991. Jerry Nolan died a few months later in 1992. Live shows often consisted of songs performed with the New York Dolls or taken from Johnny Thunders' solo career. Richard Hell rarely plays music live concentrating instead on writing and spoken word performances. Billy Rath's whereabouts are currently unknown leading to various rumors such as that he died or became a priest. Walter Lure still performs about once a month with his band the Waldos performing mostly Heartbreakers songs.
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