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Artist News Obituaries
Tommy Ramone 1949-2014
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 14 July 2014
Thomas Erdelyi, better known as Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone, died last week, aged 65. He had been receiving treatment for bile duct cancer.
Born Erdélyi Tamás in Budapest in 1949, Erdelyi emigrated to the US with his family in 1956. He later began playing in a band called Tangerine Puppets with John Cummings, who would later become Johnny Ramone. However, he left to focus on recording studio work, getting a job as an assistant engineer in New York’s Record Plant studio.
When Cummings formed The Ramones with bassist Douglas Glenn Colvin (Dee Dee Ramone) and drummer Jeffrey Hyman (Joey Ramone) in 1974, Erdelyi was their manager, producer and co-songwriter (‘I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend’ and ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ being two of his compositions). However, when Joey switched to vocals, he found that none of the drummers he auditioned could do what he wanted them to, so Erdelyi became a performing member of the band too.
He remained the band’s drummer for four years, performing on and co-producing their first three albums. When he stepped down in 1978, he remained in his original role to produce the band’s fourth album, ‘Road To Ruin’, and later returned again to produce 1984’s ‘Too Tough To Die’.
Following his departure from the band, Erdelyi continued to work as a producer and later formed Bluegrass band Uncle Monk with his long-term partner Claudia Tienan.
Erdelyi was the last surviving member of the original Ramones line-up, Joey having died in 2001, Dee Dee in 2002, and Johnny in 2004. He is survived by his older brother Peter.
