Punk Rocker Tommy Ramone Dies at 62

Tommy Ramone, the last surviving member of influential punk band the Ramones, passed away on Friday at his home in Queens, New York at the age of 62. Ramone had been in hospice care after undergoing treatment for bile duct cancer. Ramone, born Erdelyi Tamas in Hungary, supplied the high-energy drumming that powered the group’s hyperactive sound. He played on the Ramones’ seminal first three albums, Ramones (1976), Leave Home (1977), and Rocket to Russia (1977), and later left to concentrate on studio work. He was replaced in the group by Marc Bell (Marky Ramone), a Dust and Richard Hell and the Voidoids veteran, though Ramone later returned to co-produce the band’s 1984 album Too Tough to Die.