Johnny Ramone

John William Cummings was born in Queens, New York City, on October 8, 1948, the only child of Estelle, a waitress of Polish and Ukrainian descent, and Francis William Cummings, a construction worker (a steamfitter) of Irish descent. He was raised in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, where he grew up absorbing rock music. Cummings's father was a strict disciplinarian. Johnny is quoted as saying: "My father would get on these tangents about how he never missed a day's work. I broke my big toe the day I had to go pitch a Little League game and he's going, 'What are you – a baby? What did I do, raise a baby? You go play.' And even though my toe was broken I had to go pitch the game anyway. It was terrible." As a teenager, Cummings played in a band called the Tangerine Puppets alongside future Ramones drummer Tamás Erdélyi (better known as Tommy Ramone). Cummings was known as a "greaser", though he was later described as a tie-dye-wearing Stooges fan. He was a lifelong New York Yankees fan. Cummings also worked as a plumber with his father before the Ramones became successful. He said he attended Peekskill Military Academy in Peekskill, New York.

Johnny's early adulthood was marked by bouts of delinquency which he stated were inexplicable at the time. "I didn't become a delinquent until I got out of high school. I had a two-year run. I'd go out and hit kids and take their money and rob everybody's pocketbooks. Just being bad every minute of the day. It was terrible. I don't know what my problem was. Things that were funny to me at the time were horrible... At about 20 years old, I stopped drinking and doing drugs, got a job and tried to be normal." Johnny married his first wife, Rosana Cummings, in 1972. However, by 1976, they split up. In 1983, Johnny was severely injured in a fight with Seth Macklin of the band Sub Zero Construction. He was saved by emergency brain surgery and, according to a reporter at the time, "got better fast. He plays the same but his hair is a little shorter." Johnny later said, "I was ready to play in three months, and our next album would be titled Too Tough to Die". Johnny married his second wife, Linda, in 1984 at the office of the city clerk in New York City. She had originally dated Joey Ramone, but left him for Johnny. Joey and Johnny continued to tour as the Ramones after this, but their relationship worsened. However, despite reports that they had stopped talking to each other altogether, Johnny talks fondly of Joey in his book Commando. …

Johnny Ramone died in his Los Angeles home on September 15, 2004, at the age of 55, following a five-year battle with prostate cancer. Many of his friends and musical contemporaries came to pay their respects. His wife Linda kept his ashes, though there is a cenotaph monument to Ramone at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.