The Cribs are an indie rock band that formed in 2001. The band is based from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The Cribs originally consisted of three brothers, twins Ryan and Gary Jarman and their young brother Ross. The Cribs started by playing local venues before Squirrel Records caught interest in the band.  The band struck a handshake deal with this indie label to release one 7” single. They released the single “Baby Don’t Swear/You & I in 2002. The single was recorded in an ancient mill with an analogue set-up.

The band has released four albums: The Cribs (2004), The New Fellas (2005), Mens Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever (2007), and Ignore The Ignorant (2009). Their first album was recored in just seven days onto an 8-track player at London’s Toe Rag Studio.

The band’s second album New Fellas was produced by Edwyn Collins at his own studio, again it was a lo-fi sounding release. This album has been called by Q magazine as the album of the century. When the band decided to record their third album, they decided to move away from their lo-fi sound and move towards a more polished sound. They obtained Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos to produce the album, it was recorded in Canada. The album was released in 2007, it was preceded with the single Men’s Needs, which is the bands biggest hit to date reaching #17 in the UK charts and was named the 3rd best track of 2007 by NME magazine. After the release of the album The Cribs were asked to open for the Sex Pistols on four of their five comeback concerts.

In 2009 it was announced that the legendary Johnny Marr would be joining the band on guitar and back-up vocals. Johnny Marr’s illustrious career includes working with The Smiths, Talking Heads, The The, Oasis, Modest Mouse and many others. He recorded the Cribs fourth album, Ignore The Ignorant, with the band in Los Angeles, California. The album, was preceded with the single “Cheat On Me”

The Wallflowers started in Los Angeles’s clubs in 1989. They released their self titled Debut album The Wallflowers in 1992. The album was praised by critics but only initially sold 40,000 copies, but now up to this date, it has sold about 1,000,000. At this point the band still consisted of the band’s original line-up, which included: Jakob Dylan (guitar and vocals, also the son of the legendary Bob Dylan), Rami Jaffee (Keybords and vocals), Barrie Maguire (bass guitar and vocals), Tobi Miller (guitar), and Peter Yanowitz (drums and percussion). This line-up of the band broke up quickly after the albums release due to internal conflict within the band and the band’s relationship with their record company Virgin Records.

Around this time the band played many venues in the Los Angeles area with the groups favorite place being the Kibitz room which is a legendary LA hangout. The band played here every Tuesday night, it was at these gigs that the band attracted the attention of many groups such as 10,000 Maniacs and The Spin Doctors who invited the band to join them on their tour.

The band stormed back into the musical scene in 1996 with the release of their album Bringing Down the Horse. Horse produced may hit’s including “The Difference,” “One Headlight,” “6th Avenue Heartache,” and “Three Marlenas.” These hits led to the album going platinum 4x. The album was released this time on Interscope records instead of Virgin. The only members left of the original line-up on this album were Dylan and Jaffee. For the new band Jakob Dylan got together Michael Ward (guitar), Greg Richling (bass guitar and vocals), and Mario Calire (drums and percussion). The album won two Grammy’s: Best Rock Song for writing “One Headlight” and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for “One Headlight.” At the MTV music video awards the band performed a special version of “One Headlight” with Bruce Springsteen joining the band on stage.

The Wallflowers released their next album (Breach) on October 10, 2000, four years after the release of Horse. The first single the band released for the album was “Sleepwalker,” the accompanying video poked fun at Jakob Dylan’s status as a “rock star.”  Many felt that this song was a statement by Jakob about being Bob Dylan’s son. Elvis Costello is a guest vocalist on the albums track “Murder 101.” (Breach) was certified gold and peaked on the Billboard 200 at #13.

The band’s next album, Red Letter Days, was released on November 5, 2002 and peaked at #32 on the Billboard 200. This album produced one music video for “When You’re On Top” and it was a smash hit on AAA radio stations. This album is significant in the fact that it’s the first Wallflowers album where Dylan played the majority of lead guitar parts, although this was mostly due to the fact that Michael Ward left the band before the recording of the album.

The most recent release by the band was on May 24, 2005, Rebel, Sweetheart. The band produced a AAA radio hit “The Beautiful Side of Somewhere.”  Along with the release of Rebel, Sweetheart the band released an iTunes Originals release which featured interviews with Jakob Dylan and rare versions of the band’s songs. The band did not tour Rebel instead Rami Jaffee toured with the Foo Fighters on their acoustic tour.

The band parted ways with Interscope records in 2006. The Wallflowers did not play together as a band until 2007. When the band announced that they were going to play some clubs in the Northeast it was announced that keyboardist Rami Jaffee would not be touring with the band.

Jakob Dylan released a solo album on June 10, 2008 entitled Seeing Things.

The Wallflowers released a Greatest Hits record in 2009 called Collected: 1996-2005. The band also announced they would be touring the album with Jaffee returning for the tour.

Thomas Eugene Stinson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 6, 1966. Tommy was a founding member of the legendary 1980’s band The Replacements. Tommy was only 12 years old when he joined the band in 1979. He dropped out of high school in 1983 so that he could tour with the band.

Stinson played in The Replacements until they broke-up in 1991. After the break-up Stinson started a new band with the name Bash & Pop. This band released their first and only album Friday Night Is Killing Me in 1993. After touring in support of the album the band broke up.

After the Bash & Pop break-up, Tommy went on to form another band, named Perfect. The band released the EP When Squirrels Play Chicken in 1996 and in 1997 they recorded an album entitled Seven Days a Week. Unfortunately due to problems with the record company the album was shelved until until 2004 when it was released with a new title called Once, Twice, Three Times a Maybe.

In 1998 Stinson was recruited by Guns’ N Roses to be their bass player, and he has been a part of the band ever since. Stinson is featured prominently on the band’s album Chinese Democracy which was released in 2008. He even co-wrote two tracks.

Even though Tommy has been a member of Guns N Roses he has been in many other projects during his time in the band. Stinson plays bass on MOTH’s album Provisions, Fiction and Gear which was released in 2002. In 2004 Tommy recorded and released his first solo album Village Gorilla Head, The album was well reviewed.

In 2005, Tommy filled in on bass for Soul Asylum on tour and also on their 2006 album The Silver Lining after the death of their bass player Karl Mueller. Also in 2005 Tommy scored the film Catch & Release.

In 2006 Tommy got back together with fellow ex-Replacements member Paul Westerberg for two song’s that Paul was recording for the Open Season soundtrack. Tommy recorded the bass parts for the two songs.

Whiskeytown started in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1994. Ryan Adams formed the band after performing in The Patty Duke Syndrome (a punk rock band). Adams left the band for he was starting to find inspiration in country-rock music such as Gram Parsons. He started the band with Caitlin Cary (Violin), Steve Grothman (Bass), Eric Gilmoore (drummer), and Phil Wandscber (Guitar).

The band released their first album Faithless Street in 1996.
This album established the band as one of the prominent leaders in the Alt. Country scene and received stellar reviews. The album was re-released with 12 bonus tracks in 1998.

Their next album was entitled Stranger’s Almanac. This album. During the recording of Almanac, members Gilmore and Grothman left the band and Wandscher left after the release of the album. Even with the band’s internal turmoil the album was a critical success and helped boost Adams’ reputation as a songwriter. The tracks “Yesterday’s News” and “Sixteen Days” even saw radio play. In Rolling Stone magazine’s review of Almanac they declared Whiskeytown Alt. Country’s Nirvana. During the band’s tour in support of this album the entire band was fired at a Kansas City concert. Adams and Cary were the only original members left.

In 1999 Adam’s and Cary set out to record another album with new core members. The result of this was the album Pneumonia. Pneumonia is different then their other releases for the traditional country aspects that were prominent on those two releases are left off this outing. Even though the album was finished in 1999 it was not released until 2001 because of the group’s record label (Outpost Records) closing and merging with Polygram and Universal.

Whiskeytown broke-up in 1999 after they finished recording Pneumonia. Both Adams and Cary remained in the music business with each pre suing solo carriers.

The Replacements were formed in 1979 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The original line up of the band consisted of Paul Westerberg on Vocals and guitar, Bob Stinson on guitar, Tommy Stinson on Bass, and Chris Mars on Drums.

The history of the band began in 1978 when Bob Stinson (At this time was nineteen years old) gave his eleven year old broth Tommy a bass. Bob said that at the time he did this to keep his brother off the streets. In this same year Bob met Chris Mars who was a recent high school dropout. Mars was originally thier guitar player before he switched to the drums. Chris, Bob, and Tommy got together and started covering songs together as a trio, with no vocalist. The band named themselves Dogbreath.  Around this time Paul Westerberg had a job as a janitor at the Senator’s office and would often hear the band practicing as he would walk pass the Stinson household on his way home from work.

Westerberg became impressed with the band and would regularly listen to the band after work. Mars knew Westerberg and invited him to jam with him.

Paul had no idea that Mars was in the band Dogbreath and became very interested in becoming a member. The band auditioned several vocalist (Westerberg excluded) and eventually found one. Westerberg however really wanted the position and went up to the vocalist one day and told him an elaborate story about how the rest of the band didn’t like him. Soon after this the vocalist quit and Westerberg was awarded vocalist duties. Dogbreath was a band known for drinking and doing various drugs during their rehearsals and for playing songs as more of an afterthought than as the set out point. Westerberg was quite different then his band mates for he was relatively disciplined at these rehearsals. He would always show up in neat clothes and would practice the songs until he felt good about them.

Around this time Dogbreath changed their name to The Impediments and famously played a drunken performance in June 1980 at The Church Hall Gig with then 13 year old Tommy Stinson. The Impediments were then banned from the venue which led the band to rename themselves to The Replacements.

In May 1980, the band recorded a demo tape in Mars’ basement and passed it along to Peter Jesperson who at the time was a manager of a Minneapolis punk record store. Jesperson also founded the label Twin/Tone Records. Westerberg handed him the demo with the hope that it would get some play at the Longhorn, which was a local disc jockeyed venue. But after Jesperson heard the tape he had very different ideas for the band. He was so blown away by it that he called Westereberg the very next day and asked him what he would rather do a single or an album. Jesperson is quoted of saying “I didn’t even get through the first song before I thought my head was going to explode.”

After their second show Jesperson was asked to become the band’s manager and he accepted. The band has often stated that his enthusiasm was the only thing that kept the band going through their several empty club gigs that summer.

The band singed to Twin/Tone and Westerberg began to write new songs for a studio album. He quickly had a whole albums worth of material. The band recorded the album on an eight track home studio called Blackberry Way in Minneapolis. The band unfortunately had no clout at the studio and the time spent in it was intermittent, this led to the album taking six months to record. This was not a big deal for the band because at the time Twin/Tone didn’t have enough money to release the album until August 1981.

The bands first album Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash was released in August 1981, and to positive reviews in local magazines. The band’s first single “I’m in Trouble” is featured on this album.

At a show in Chicago the band debuted the track “Kids Don’t Follow” which Jesperson was convinced sounded like a hit. He approached the other investors at Twin/Tone and was able to get the money to record and release an E.P. This E.P. was titled Stink and was released inn June 1982.

After the release of Stink the band started to distance itself from the punk rock scene. In 1983 The Replacements (also given the nickname The Mats) released their second studio album entitled Hootenanny. This album saw Westerberg’s songwriting ability expanding with tracks like “Willpower” and “Within Your Reach” (he plays every instrument on Within). This album received critical praise and led critic Robert Christgau calling it “The most critically acclaimed independent album of 1983.”

Hootenanny was making the band’s following reach outside of just Minneapolis which led the band to their first U.S. Tour, in 1983. Tommy who was still in high school at the time dropped out so he could join the band on the road. Even with the band opening for R.E.M. at eight shows the tour was a failure which left the band with very low morale.

In late 1983 the band began working on their next studio album. The band was starting to get tired of just playing loud and fast songs so they softened their music and placed more focus on songwriting. This album also showcased Westerberg experimenting with more instruments including the piano, mandolin, and twelve-string guitar. R.E.M.’s Peter Buck is featured playing the mandolin on the lead off track “I Will Dare.” Other noteworthy songs on the album are Westerberg’s piano ballad “Androgynous” and the song “Unsatisfied.” In October 1984 this band released the album entitled Let It Be. This album met with extreme critical praise, with Robert Christgau giving the album an A+ rating. Let It Be was also ranked in Rolling Stone magazine as the 15th best album of the 1980’s.

With this acclaim came major label interest for the band. The band wasn’t doing very well financially, with the sales of Let It Be and profits from concerts going directly to instrument repair, travel costs, and hotels. Twin/Tone at this time knew it was time for a major label to step in. Even with so much attention surrounding the band it was hard for them to get a major label contract for every show that a label representative was present at they would intentionally preform poorly.

Eventually the band signed with a subsidiary record label of Warner Bros. named Sire Records. One of the reasons the band signed with this label was that they admired the head of the label Seymour Stein. Stein had previously managed The Ramones and even got Tommy Ramone to produce their first album for a Sire, Tim.

After the band released Tim they fired guitarist Bob Stinson for being unwilling to play the band’s songs that were “less rocked-out.” Around this time they also fired Jesperson. Bob Stinson preferred the bands loud and fast style that was like their early material and didn’t like the direction the band was heading. The band released their next album 1987’s Pleased To Meet Me as a trio. The band picked up Slim Dunlap to play lead guitar for the bands tour of their album and he was then turned into a full fledged member after the tour was completed.

The band’s next release was their desperate for a hit, stab at mainstream album Don’t Tell a Soul. The album was far less punky and much quieter than their previous albums. The album, although alienating many hardcore fans, had many notable tracks including “Achin’ to Be” and “I’ll Be You.” “I’ll Be You” was the band’s only song to ever top Billboard’s Modern Rock chart. The band caused some controversy at the ABC Rock Awards show when They performed a version of their track “Talent Show” where Paul (in response to the network censoring the line “feeling good from the pills we took”) inserted a line later into the song that went “It’s too late to take pills, here we go.”

In support of Don’t Tell A Soul the band opened for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The tour was disastrous and caused trouble within the band. This led to Westerberg cutting a new album with mostly session musicians. The label however persuaded him to release it as a Replacements album. So in 1990 the album All Shook Down was released to critical praise. Quickly after the album came out Chirs Mars left the band.

The replacements officially broke up on July 4th, 1991 after preforming at a show in Grant park. At the show, slowly during the set members disappeared from the stage until it was completely replaced by roadies.

On June 13, 2006 a Replacements best-of compilation album was released entitled Don’t You Know Who I Think I Was? Chris Mars, Tommy Stinson, and Paul Westerberg got together to record two new tracks for the compilation (“Message To The Boys” and “Pool & Dive).

The alternative rock group known today as the Red House Painters formed in 1989. Beginning in San Francisco California the band was led by singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek. Alongside Kozelek was the American Music Club. The Red House Painters are considered were considered the start of the slowcore movement in alternative rock. Althought the band was successfull, Kezelek used the group primarly as a vehicle to spread his music. The band is known for their personal lyrics, emotional songs, despair, and pain and suffering.

Career:

Because of the band’s involvement with the American Music Club they inevitably remained in their shadow. During a stay in Atlanta, Kozelek befriended drummer Anthony Koutsos. Returning to San Fransico, Kozelek remained friends with Koutsos while he searched for fresh talent. Kozelek eventually recruited guirarist Gorden Mack and bassist Jerry Vessel. Together with drummer Anthony Koutsos they formed the line-up for Red House Painters. Beginning their career the Red House Painters played shows exclusivly in San Fransisco, conquering the music scene. The band recorded numerous demos from 1989-1992 with extensive material. In 1992 a demo from the band fell into the hands of CEO of 4AD records Ivoo Watts-Russell. Mark Eitzel of American Music Club heavily influenced Russell’s decision to sign. Between 1992 and March of 1995 the Red house Painters released three LP’s, one Double LP and one EP. The band’s first album release was titled “Down Colorful Hill” and was a compilation of demos. The album features Kozelek’s “eerie vocals and emotional lyrics.Then again in 1993 another album release, the group released not one but two self-titled albums. The albums are often differenciated because of their album art one reffered to as “Rollercoaster” and the other as “Bridge.” The albums were a tribute to Kozelek’s outstanding songwriting. They fetured very emotionally drivin music about sorrow and sadness with extensive soundscapes that only added to the lyrical quality.

In 1994, the Red House Painters released “Shock Me,” an EP featuring two seperate cover versions of  an Ace Frehley-written KISS song. The band’s music was becoming more acoustic and folk based and in Spring 1995, “Ocean Beach” was released expressing these tones. The music definatly inhibited more Folk and the album reflected this. Shortly after the album’s release, guitarris Gorden Mack left the band to be quickly replaced by Phil Carney. During this time Kozelek spent less time with the band and began working on a solo project and eventually left 4AD Records. However, the band remained under the limelight releasing “Songs for a Blue Guitar” in 1996. The albums was substancially more guitar driven than previous work but the music stayed the same. The album was still put under the Red House Painters name eventhough Kozelek was fading from the band. The band was dicentagrating and in 2001their sixth album “Old Ramon” was finially issed on the new Sub Pop label.

Prior to the release of “Old Ramon,” Mark Kozelek released a seven-song solo EP titled “Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer in 2000. The solo EP featured the Red House Painters as well as four cover songs from various classic rock artists. Kozelek’s first solo album, “What’s Next to the Moon” which was comprised of mostly acoustic covers including many AC/DC songs. This was odd, primarly due to Kozelek’s natorous song-writing abilities. Both the EP and album were released on his newly signed record label, Badman Recordings.

4AD Records released retrospective album of the Red House Painters in July 1999. After the band’s break-up, Kozelek played benefit shows and was featured on the AIDS benefit album “The Shanti Project Collection.” He was also featured on longtime idol John Denver’s tribute album. In addition to music, Kozelek played small acting roles in many movies. Although acting was a refreshing change Kozelek, his calling was music. In 2003, Kozelek and Koutsos along with Geoff Stanfield, and Tim Mooney reformed as Sun Kil Moon. The reformed band with a catcy name and lyrics relased several highly aclaimed albums. Despite the success of the newly formed band Kozelek commonly compares Sun Kil Moon to the Red House Painters during many interviews.

Discography:

Down Colorful Hill (September 15, 1992)

Red House Painters “Rollercoaster” (May 25, 1993)

Red House Painters “Bridge” (October 19, 1993)

Ocean Beach (March 28, 1995)

Songs for a Blue Guitar (July 23, 1996)

Old Ramon (April 10, 2001)

Born in Bermuda on July 6, 1967, Her father was a native Bermudian while her mother is Canadian. Vova spent most of her childhood years living on a 40 foot boat made by her father. On the boat Nova was accompanied by her sister Susannah, and brother Mishka (reggae singer). During the 1970s’ and 1980s’ the Friths sailed throughout the Atlantic and Caribbean waters. Nova took up the guitar and violin at a very early age, and by age 12 she wrote her first song. Her family moved to New Englanf where Nova attended Putney School in Putney, Vermont. However, the memories that she gained on her voyages will forever be evident in her music. Following her graduation in 1983, Nova enrolled at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). At school she majored in film in 1989, during this time she also sat in on poetry classes where she wrote music to go with her student films. Nova eventually lost interest in music and fulfilled music.

Career:

After college Nova moved for a short time to New York City. During her stay in the Big Apple she unsuccessfully tried to interst major record labels through a demo. Dissapointed by nt hope-less Nova moved to London where she would stay for twelve years. Nova was already a British Citizen due to her Bermudian orgins. In 1990, she released her first recording, an EP titled Heather Frith. At this point in her carreer she hadn’t yet changed her name to Heather Nova in which would become widly known. While trying to reach a broader audience, Nova (under a new name) realeased her second EP “Spirits In You.” Imeadiatly following the EP, Nova released her first full length album, “Glow Stars.” The album was critiacally aclaimed success of “Glow Stars” led Nova to produce her first live album “Blow” in 1993. Both albums were supported by a tour throughout Europe. Nova realsed what would be known as her greatest work to date, In 1994 Nova released the emotional and torn album “Oyster.” To follow the album’s emense success Nova toured the World for almost two years. During these many performances she was able to put together another live album. “Live from the Milky Way,” was released in 1995 and briefly sumed up her tour. A few years passed before Nova realeased her long awaited follow-up to “Oyster.” In 1998 “Siren” was released. Prior to the album release, Nova joined alongside Sarah McLachlan and other women at the Lilith Fair (female artists only) music festival.

However, Imeadiatly after the release of “Siren” Nova made a quick world tour to promote the album, then headed back home. As Nova took a brief break from her music career she didn’t stop. During this break a variety of TV shows and film soundtracts liscense some of her songs for play. Nova’s record company, “Sony Records/The WORK Group,” took this time to release several singles. Although the singles did not make it big on TV or mainstream radio, it did however become quite popular on many college radio stations. Also during this time, she recorded a version of the often covered traditional song “Gloomy Sunday”, for the German WWII feature film drama Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod (released under the International title Gloomy Sunday). Being a part of the soundtrack for “Gloomy Sunday” added to her ever-building fame in Germany. Once again Nova released another live album, “wonderlust,” in 2000. The album “South” was released the following year in 2001. The album boosted Nova back into the international Spotlight. Aiding her spotlight was her appearance on the soundtrack of the John Cusack movie Serendipity, several music videos, and the temporary collaboration with indiepop band Eskobar, for a song called “someone New.” The collaboration with Eskobar proved to be very sucessfull with the music video reaching top slots on MTV and MTV2. Nova switched record labels to Big Cat Records to record what would be her last two records to date. Her fifth album “Storm” was released in 2003 precursing her latest album Redbird in 2005.

In December 2005, Nova released an EP supporting the “Bermuda Sloop Foundation.” ”Together As One” as the EP was named was only available in Bermuda shops and fan-run websites. In additon to Nova’s musical talent she published a book in 2002. The self-published “Sorrowjoy”, a 72-page book of poetry and drawings. To promote both, Nova released an album “Sorrowjoy,” in which she reads poems from her book set to amient music. Once again Nova released “Jasmine Flower” in 2008. Although I doubt Heather Nova has finished producing music, she currently resides in Bermuda with her husband.

Albums:

Damien Rice was born in Ireland on December 7th, 1973. Rice was raised in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. In the late 90’s Rice became a member of the rock band Juniper, at that time they were going under the name Dodi Ma. They released two singles in 1998 (“The World Is Dead” and “Weatherman”). The band was set to record a studio LP in 1999, but Rice became frustrated with the label and left the band to pursue a solo career.

After Rice split from the band he moved to Italy and became a street musician until he formed another band and started to play gigs in Ireland. In his band there is: Vyvienne Long (cellist), Tom Osander (percussion), Shane Fitzsimons (bassist), and Lisa Hannigan (female vocals). This lineup is still Rice’s band, with the exception of Lisa Hannigan and Tom Osander who left the band in 2007.

Rice and his band released his first album O in 2002. The album was a commercial success. The album won the Shorlist Music Prize. Rice and the band went on an extensive promotion of O. After touring the album, 3 years later in 2006 Rice released he second album 9.

The latest release by Rice was a recording of “Crosseyed Bear” which is an old Juniper track. It was featured on the new War Child album.

Ben Gibbard was born in Bremerton, Washington on August 11, 1976. Ben grew up during the musical explosion of Grunge in the early 1990’s. His growing up led him to be influenced by Built to Spill, Teenage Fanclub, Stone Roses, Nirvana, Superchunk, The Pixies and many others. Besides musicians Gibbard also states that author Jack Kerouac is one of his major influences.

Ben attended Western Washington University for a short time studying engineering. After he dropped out he started preforming on the Bellingham music scene. Around this time he formed the band Pinwheel and was also recording under his solo stage name of All-Time Quarterback.

In 1997 he started a side group entitled Death Cab For Cutie. They released a cassette titled You Can Play These Songs with Chords. After this release turned out to be a surprising success Ben made the group a complete project with Chris Walla, Nick Hammer and Nathan Good (who would later be replaced by Jason McGerr). The band’s latest release was the 2008 album Narrow Stairs followed one year later by The Open Door E.P.

Another side project Gibbard has worked on is his and Jimmy Tamborello’s group The Postal Service. Gibbard and Tamborello started collaborating together in 2001 and released the LP Give Up in 2003. The album gained critical success and the band developed a cult following. The two members however have stated that they won’t be releasing a second LP anytime soon.

Recently it has been announced that Gibbard will be playing a small role in the  John Krasinski film Brief Interviews With Hideous Men. Also announced in December 2008, was that Ben and his long time girlfriend Zooey Deschanel are now engaged.

Johnny Thunders was born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. On July 15, 1952 in Queens, New York. He was born into a second generation Roman Catholic Italian family. Johnny played baseball when he was young but did not join Little League for he refused to cut his hair short.

Under the stage name “Johnny Volume” Thunders started his first band Johnny and the Jaywalkers, this was while he was attending Quintano High School. He started going to the Filmore East on the weekends in 1968 and would later go to a West Village Bar. Johnny got a salesclerk job at a leather shop on Bleecker street named Da Nazz. At this shop he met Arthur Kane and Billy Murcia, who Thunders would later form the band The New York Dolls with. At this time he joined their band Actress which would later be renamed New York Dolls after David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain joined the group in 1971. It was at this time when Johnny assumed the stage name Johnny Thunders, which he got from a comic book with the same name.

The band recorded two critically acclaimed, but commercially unsuccessful albums, the first being The New York Dolls, the second Too Much Too Soon. At the time the band was recording Malcolm McLaren was their manager. McLaren would go on to manage the Sex Pistols.

The Dolls broke up in 1975, but their early recordings are still in print and are still influencing trash/glam/punk bands.

After the Dolls breakup, Thunders formed the band The Heartbreakers with Jerry Nolan (New York Dolls bass player), Richard Hell (Bassist from Television) and Walter Lure (Ex-Demons guitarist). Thunders was the leader of the Heartbreakers and led the band in 1977 on a UK and USA tour while releasing one album, L.A.M.F. The band was more popular in England then in America, which led the band to relocate to the UK.

Thunders began playing in the band Gang War in late 1979, they preformed live many times and released one EP. A live vinyl LP was released in 1990 entitled Gang War.

Thunders started his solo career in 1978 with the album So Alone. This album is known for a notoriously drug-fueled recording session. The album featured a core band of Steve Jones (guitarist), Paul Cook (Drummer), and Phil Lynott (Bassist).

In the early 80’s Thunders re-formed with The Heartbreakers for a couple of tours. They released their final album together in 1984.

Thunders released Que Sera Sera in 1985. Three years later He released an R&B covers album with Patti Palladin entitled Copy Cats.

Johnny continued recording and performing until his death in 1991. In the 80’s however his releases became sporadic, this was due to his heroine addiction. The final track Thunders ever recorded was a cover of the Die Toten Hosen’s song “Born To Lose.” He recorded this track 36 hours before his death.

Johnny Thunders died on April 23, 1991. His death is surrounded with a lot of controversy, with many suspecting foul play in his death after it was reported in his autopsy there wasn’t enough drugs in his system for an overdose. Johnny Thunders has left his mark on music and has inspired many artists including: Paul Westerberg, Slash, Jesse Malin and many more. Thunders was 38 at the time of his death.