The quartet's impact was evident Wednesday when guitarist Johnny Ramone died in his sleep at his Los Angeles home surrounded by family members and rocker Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and singer Rob Zombie. He had been fighting a five-year battle with prostate cancer.
Ramone, 55, whose birth name was John Cummings, had been hospitalized in June at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for cancer treatment.
He was one of the original members of the Ramones, whose songs "I Wanna Be Sedated," "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker," and "Blitzkrieg Bop," among others, earned them an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
The band's singer, Joey Ramone, whose real name was Jeff Hyman, died in 2001 of lymphatic cancer. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone, whose real name was Douglas Colvin, died from a drug overdose in 2002.
RIP
