David Johansen Has Stage 4 Cancer and a Brain Tumor, Leaving His Family to Raise Funds for Medical Care

Mar. 15, 2025

David Johansen in New York City in 2015.Photo:Ilya S. Savenok/Getty

Ilya S. Savenok/Getty

David Johansen, the singer from the seminal punk bandNew York Dolls, has stage 4 cancer, his daughter shared in a statement announcing fundraising efforts to care for his illness.

“David is a legend but he’s also my very real very sick dad,” his daughter Leah Hennessy shared in anInstagram poston Feb. 10, when she announced a partnership with theSweet ReliefMusician' Fund — which provides financial assistance to artists and those in the music industry struggling with health challenges.

David Johansen in Los Angeles in 2023.Matt Winkelmeyer/Deadline via Getty

Matt Winkelmeyer/Deadline via Getty

On the charity’s website, Hennessey shared Johansen’s health struggle, explaining, “David has been in intensive treatment for stage 4 cancer for most of the past decade.”

Although she did not offer specifics about his type of cancer, she shared that five years ago, it progressed to abrain tumor. “There have been complications ever since. He’s never made his diagnosis public, as he and my mother Mara are generally very private people, but we feel compelled to share this now, due to the increasingly severe financial burden our family is facing."

“To make matters worse, the day after Thanksgiving David fell down the stairs and broke his back in two places.” He underwent surgery, but Hennessy explains that since then, “David has been bedridden and incapacitated. Due to the trauma, David’s illness has progressed exponentially and my mother is caring for him around the clock. ​​”

David Johansen performs with the New York Dolls in London in 2011.Matt Kent/WireImage

Matt Kent/WireImage

The family is raising money for full-time nursing and physical therapy, as well as daily expenses. “With professional specialized care, we are hopeful that David can regain some mobility and independence,” Hennessey wrote.

Along with the New York Dolls, Johansen is also well-known for his alter-ego Buster Poindexter; In 1987 he scored aBillboardhit with single, “Hot Hot Hot” as the outlandish character, a year before his memorable turn as the Ghost of Christmas Past inBill Murry-led hitScrooged.

As Hennesssy wrote in an Instagram post: “David is a legend but he’s also my very real very sick Dad. I have so much to say but I guess I’ll be posting about this a lot and I don’t have to say it all now. I know how dire so many of our situations are right now, and how much fundraising literally everyone is doing but if you love David or any of the magick he’s brought into the world please just take a minute to read this or share it. Thank you guys as always.”

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source: people.com