Thomas Erdelyi (born Tamás Erdélyi; January 29, 1949 – July 11, 2014), known professionally as Tommy Ramone, was a Hungarian American record producer and musician. He was the drummer for the influential punk rock band the Ramones for the first four years of the band's existence and was the longest-surviving original member of the Ramones.

Background

Tamás Erdélyi was born on January 29, 1949, in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. His Jewish parents were professional photographers, who survived

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

by being hidden by neighbors. Many of his relatives were killed by the Nazis. The family left Hungary during the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

. In 1957 he emigrated with his family to the United States. Initially settling in the South Bronx, the family moved up to the middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills in Queens, New York. Verona Estates in Forest Hills was the place where Tamás grew up and later described as "home sweet home"."Ramones – End Of The Century – Extras 4"
/ref> He changed his name to Thomas Erdelyi. In high school, Tommy played guitar in a mid-1960s, four-piece

garage band Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

, the Tangerine Puppets, with a schoolmate and guitarist, John Cummings, the future Johnny Ramone. After leaving school at 18, he started working as an assistant engineer at the Record Plant studio, where he worked on the production of the 1970 Jimi Hendrix album ''

Band of Gypsys ''Band of Gypsys'' is a live album by Jimi Hendrix and the first without his original group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was recorded on January 1, 1970, at the Fillmore East in New York City with Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums, ...

''.

Producer and drummer for the Ramones

When the Ramones first came together, with Johnny Ramone on guitar,

Dee Dee Ramone Douglas Glenn Colvin (September 18, 1951 – June 5, 2002), better known by his stage name Dee Dee Ramone, was an American musician. He was the bassist and a founding member of the punk rock band Ramones. Throughout the band's existence, he wa ...

on bass and

Joey Ramone Jeffrey Ross Hyman (May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001), known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American musician, best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the punk rock band Ramones. His image, voice, and his tenure with the R ...

on drums, Erdelyi was supposed to be the manager, but, even though he never played drums before, was drafted as the band's drummer when Joey became the lead singer, after realizing that he couldn't keep up with the Ramones' increasingly fast tempos. "Tommy Ramone, who was managing us, finally had to sit down behind the drums, because nobody else wanted to," Dee Dee later recalled. He remained as drummer from 1974 to 1978, playing on and co-producing their first three albums, '' Ramones'', '' Leave Home'', and '' Rocket to Russia'', as well as the live album '' It's Alive''. His final show as a Ramones drummer was at Johnny Blitz benefit event at CBGB's in New York, USA on May 4, 1978. In a 2007, interview with the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Background

Producer and drummer for the Ramones

Behind the scenes with the Ramones

Illness and death

Discography

Discography with the Ramones

Discography with Uncle Monk

References

Bibliography

External links