Johnny Ramone passed away in 2004 after a battle of prostate cancer, but the legendary punk guitarist will tell his life story in his own words in an upcoming autobiography.
Set for an April 2 release through Abrams Image, Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone will explore the six-stringer's early life, as well as his rise to worldwide fame with the Ramones. According to his wife, Linda, he had started the memoirs when he was first diagnosed with cancer, realizing that his time was almost up.
"It is a really powerful book because his whole life has gone before him and he knows it's going to come to an end, and he really needs to tell everybody what he's feeling inside, so that's what makes it so amazing," she told the Associated Press. "That is the biggest, most powerful thing, writing a book when you know you're dying."
On top of Ramones road stories, anecdotes expected to be included in the tome include a dust-up with UK punk figure Malcolm McLaren and the love triangle between Linda, Johnny and vocalist Joey Ramone (a situation reportedly encapsulated by the singer in "The KKK Took My Baby Away").
"It's whatever people make out of it. I guess it was some sort of love triangle -- Joey, Johnny and me. It happened, and of course he talks about it and he talks about how he feels about it," Linda said. "The three of us all probably have a different story, but this is Johnny's story."
The foreword was written by original drummer Tommy Ramone (aka Thomas Erdelyi), with an epilogue written by close friend Lisa Marie Presley. Initially, it had been planned to have other people's memories of Johnny included, but Linda decided to have the book focus on Johnny alone.
"It didn't make Johnny Ramone's book more powerful by having other people in the book talking about him," she said. "This is nobody else's story. This is Johnny Ramone's story, talking about Johnny Ramone."
Set for an April 2 release through Abrams Image, Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone will explore the six-stringer's early life, as well as his rise to worldwide fame with the Ramones. According to his wife, Linda, he had started the memoirs when he was first diagnosed with cancer, realizing that his time was almost up.
"It is a really powerful book because his whole life has gone before him and he knows it's going to come to an end, and he really needs to tell everybody what he's feeling inside, so that's what makes it so amazing," she told the Associated Press. "That is the biggest, most powerful thing, writing a book when you know you're dying."
On top of Ramones road stories, anecdotes expected to be included in the tome include a dust-up with UK punk figure Malcolm McLaren and the love triangle between Linda, Johnny and vocalist Joey Ramone (a situation reportedly encapsulated by the singer in "The KKK Took My Baby Away").
"It's whatever people make out of it. I guess it was some sort of love triangle -- Joey, Johnny and me. It happened, and of course he talks about it and he talks about how he feels about it," Linda said. "The three of us all probably have a different story, but this is Johnny's story."
The foreword was written by original drummer Tommy Ramone (aka Thomas Erdelyi), with an epilogue written by close friend Lisa Marie Presley. Initially, it had been planned to have other people's memories of Johnny included, but Linda decided to have the book focus on Johnny alone.
"It didn't make Johnny Ramone's book more powerful by having other people in the book talking about him," she said. "This is nobody else's story. This is Johnny Ramone's story, talking about Johnny Ramone."
