Tommy Ramone, also known as
Thomas Erdelyi (born
Erdélyi Tamás; January 29, 1949), is an
American record producer and
musician.
[1] He is the last surviving original member of the pioneering
punk rock band The Ramones.
[2]Erdélyi was born to a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary. He grew up in Forest Hills, a neighborhood of New York City's Queens borough.[3] Tommy and guitarist John Cummings (later to be dubbed "Johnny Ramone") performed together in a mid-60's four-piece garage band called the Tangerine Puppets while in high school.[4] In 1970, the then 21-year-old Erdelyi was a studio intern for the production of the Jimi Hendrix album Band of Gypsys.
When the Ramones first came together, with Johnny Ramone on guitar, Dee Dee Ramone on bass and Joey Ramone on drums, Erdelyi was supposed to be the manager, but was drafted as the band's drummer when Joey became the lead singer and found that he couldn't keep up with the Ramones' increasingly fast tempos. "Tommy Ramone, who was managing us, finally had to sit down behind the drums, because nobody else wanted to," Dee Dee later recalled.[5]
He remained as drummer, from 1974 to 1977, playing on and co-producing their first three albums Ramones, Leave Home, and Rocket to Russia.[6]
