Dee Dee Ramone

Douglas Glenn Colvin was born on September 18, 1951, in Fort Lee, Virginia. He was the son of an American soldier and a German woman. As an infant, his family relocated to West Berlin, West Germany, due to his father's military service. His father's military career also required the family to relocate frequently. As a result of these frequent moves, Douglas had a lonely childhood with few real friends. His parents separated during his early teens and he remained in Berlin until the age of 15 when he, along with his mother and sister Beverley, moved to Forest Hills, Queens, New York, in order to escape Dee Dee's alcoholic father. There, he met John Cummings and Thomas Erdelyi (later dubbed Johnny and Tommy Ramone), then playing in a band called the Tangerine Puppets, named after a Donovan song. Bassist Monty Colvin from the progressive metal band Galactic Cowboys is one of Dee Dee's cousins.

In 1978, Dee Dee married Vera Boldis. According to Boldis, Dee Dee's struggles with mental illness and drug abuse put a strain on the couple's relationship. They separated in 1990 before finalizing their divorce in 1995. In November 1994, Dee Dee met 16-year-old Barbara Zampini while searching for his lost guitar outside his hotel in Argentina. Zampini was a fan and influenced by Dee's early work. She had been playing bass for two years. They would later marry. She went on tour with him, and they remained together until his death. Following his death, Barbara managed his estate, calling herself Barbara Ramone Zampini. According to drummer Marky Ramone, Dee Dee was politically conservative.

Dee Dee Ramone was found dead at his home in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles on the evening of June 5, 2002. An autopsy established a heroin overdose as the official cause of death. He had been booked to perform at the Majestic Ventura Theater, which ended up being a memorial show in his honor. Dee Dee Ramone is buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, not far from the bronze memorial to his former Ramones bandmate, Johnny Ramone. His headstone features the Ramones seal with the line "I feel so safe flying on a ray on the highest trails above" taken from his song "Highest Trails Above", from the Ramones' Subterranean Jungle album. At the stone's base is the line "O.K...I gotta go now." Every day a large group of “Ramones Ducks” march up the hill to Dee Dee’s grave. Of the original members of the Ramones, Dee Dee is the only one whose cause of death was not cancer-related.