on the Dutch television program
TopPop in 1973 Johansen began his career in the late 1960s as the lead singer of the Vagabond Missionaries, a local Staten Island band and later in the early 1970s as the singer/songwriter in the proto-punk band the New York Dolls. The New York Dolls were part of the
Mercer Arts Center's scene, appearing on the bill at a New Year's Eve 1972 gig with
Ruby and the Rednecks. They released two albums,
New York Dolls (1973) and
Too Much Too Soon (1974). In 1975, Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan left the band. Johansen and
Sylvain Sylvain along with Peter Jordan,
Chris Robison, and
Tony Machine continued playing as the New York Dolls until 1976 after which Johansen embarked on a solo career. Sylvain Sylvain frequently performed with him and his band covered many Dolls songs in concert. His live albums
Live It Up and
The David Johansen Group Live document Johansen's reputation as an exceptional concert performer. The studio releases
Here Comes the Night (which includes a signature number, "Heart of Gold") and
Sweet Revenge again showcased his strengths as a writer of new material and featured a guest appearance by jazz saxophone player
Big Jay McNeely. A number of the songs on
Here Comes the Night were co-written with South African musician
Blondie Chaplin. In 1982 Johansen was the opening act for
the Who at several
U.S. East Coast concerts, including
Shea Stadium in
New York City and
Capital Centre near
Washington, D.C. Buster Poindexter In the late 1980s, Johansen achieved moderate commercial success under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter, "Hot Hot Hot" was initially written and recorded by
Montserratian
Soca artist
Arrow.
Acting Johansen acted in several films during the 1980s and 1990s, and in 2000, had a brief role on the
HBO drama series
Oz. He appeared in the television series
The Adventures of Pete & Pete in the episode "On Golden Pete", in which he played a park ranger. He appeared in the
Muppet Television segment of an episode of
The Jim Henson Hour. He also appeared in
The Equalizer playing a violent criminal named Garnet in the 1987 episode "
Re-Entry". Among his more prominent roles are that of the wisecracking Ghost of Christmas Past in
Scrooged (1988), which starred
Bill Murray Johansen most recently portrayed the bartender in the Bill Murray
Netflix special
A Very Murray Christmas. Johansen voiced the villain
Ding Dong Daddy in the original
Teen Titans animated series in the season 5 episode 9 episode "Revved Up". Johansen's legs appeared in
John Lennon and
Yoko Ono's 1971 film
Up Your Legs Forever. He voiced the Beartaur character in the 2021
Centaurworld animated
Netflix television series.
Later solo career Johansen then turned to
blues with his group, the Harry Smiths. The group was named as a tribute to
Harry Everett Smith, who compiled the
Anthology of American Folk Music, several songs of which were covered by the band. Johansen's second album with the Harry Smiths is titled
Shaker. In 2004, Johansen reunited with Sylvain Sylvain and
Arthur Kane of the New York Dolls. Owing to the success of the tour, in 2006 the New York Dolls released
One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This, their first album in nearly 30 years. It was critic
Robert Christgau's choice for album of the year. In 2009 the band released
Cause I Sez So and in 2011
Dancing Backward in High Heels. Johansen hosted a weekly show, ''David Johansen's Mansion of Fun'', on
Sirius Satellite Radio while continuing to write and perform. Featuring music "from the jungles of Africa to the Bayou of Louisiana and from
Duke Ellington to
Phil Spector to
Billy Joe Shaver, the show was all over the musical map", the show is free-form and eclectic. , the show aired on channel 710 (stream-only),
The Loft. In October 2007, Johansen participated in "The Staten Island Composers Project", featuring work by three musicians who call the island home: Johansen;
Vernon Reid, founder of the '80s rock-metal pioneers
Living Colour, and
Galt MacDermot, best known as the composer of the musical
Hair. The Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island commissioned the program and asked each artist to write 20 minutes of music conveying something of his connection to the island often referred to as New York City's forgotten borough. Johansen's opus, a cinematic and unabashedly romantic
Adagio scored mostly for strings, is called "Mara Dreams the Moon Gate of Uncommon Beauty". Inspired by "The Moon Gate of Uncommon Beauty", a round portal between two rockscapes in the Chinese Scholar's Garden at the
Staten Island Botanical Garden. In September 2009, he appeared on
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, the
Travel Channel television program, in which he toured
Staten Island with the program's host. In addition to his own albums, Johansen contributed songs to the soundtracks of the films
Times Square and
The Aviator ("Flowers in the City" and "Ain't Cha Glad" respectively) and guests on
About Them Shoes, a
CD by veteran blues man
Hubert Sumlin. Another non-album track of his, "Johnsonius", appears on the 1984 compilation
A Diamond Hidden in the Mouth of a Corpse and "The Rope (The Let Go Song)", a track originally recorded during the sessions for his eponymous first album and published on the B-side of the single, "Funky But Chic", a song that was performed by the original New York Dolls before their break up. An artist noted for his musical unpredictability and versatility, Johansen was a consistent blues enthusiast since the earliest days of the Dolls, with covers of songs by
Bo Diddley and
Sonny Boy Williamson among their earliest numbers. The 2006 Dolls CD
Private World : The Complete Early Studio Demos 1972/3 featured the Dolls performing songs by
Otis Redding,
Gary U.S. Bonds,
Chuck Berry,
The Shangri-Las, and
Muddy Waters, in addition to versions of songs from their two Mercury albums. Also featured on the CD was a previously unreleased Dolls number, "Endless Party". Johansen worked consistently with Sylvain Sylvain, drummer Tony Machine – formerly an agent who worked for Leber & Krebs, a member of the New York Dolls in 1975–1976 and a fixture in many David Johansen groups and throughout the Buster Poindexter period – and Brian Koonin, guitarist and banjo player with Buster Poindexter and the Harry Smiths as well as keyboard player with the New York Dolls for the first reunion engagement and the
One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This CD and tour. In September 2020, Johansen released a cover of "Sinking Ship" by
Gypsy. On July 7, 2020,
Showtime Documentary Films announced that filmmaker
Martin Scorsese would direct a new feature film on Johansen. The Showtime documentary,
Personality Crisis: One Night Only, was released on April 14, 2023. Scorsese was joined in the making of the film by his frequent co-director David Tedeschi, and, with Johansen, Scorsese was interviewed about the film by
MSNBC host
Joe Scarborough. ==Personal life and death==