Dee Dee Ramone

Dee Dee Ramone, born Douglas Glenn Colvin (September 18, 1951 - June 5, 2002) was a founding member of The Ramones, a heavily influential punk band in which he wrote or co-wrote most of the songs, including "53rd & 3rd", "Commando", "Pet Semetary" and "Poison Heart". Dee Dee struggled with drugs for much of his life, especially heroin, beginning his drug use as a teenager, and continuing to use for the majority of his adult life. He was the bassist for the group until 1989, when he left to pursue a short-lived career in rap under the name Dee Dee King. Afterwards he continued to write songs for the Ramones until 1996, when the band retired.

Douglas Glenn Colvin was born in Fort Lee, Virginia, and raised in Berlin, Germany (later to move back to the Forest Hills, Queens, NYC, NY, USA), the son of an American soldier stationed there and a German woman. His parents separated shortly after his birth, and he lived in Berlin until the age of 16, when he and his mother moved to the Forest Hills section of New York City's borough of Queens. There he met Johnny Ramone (John Cummings) and Tommy Ramone (Tommy Erdelyi), then playing in a band called The Tangerine Puppets, named after a Donovan song of the same name. They quickly became friends, being outcasts in that heavily middle class neighborhood. In 1974, Johnny and Dee Dee formed the Ramones with then-drummer Jeffrey Hyman, soon to be Joey Ramone, who took over vocal duties after Dee Dee decided that he could not sing lead and play bass well at the same time. Tommy then became the drummer.

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