The Ramones had performed a concert on Saturday in Los Angeles celebrating the band?s 30th anniversary. Ramone, whose birth name was John Cummings, was too sick to attend, but spoke to fans by phone.
   Ramone was the third member of the band?whose members were not related but took the common last name?to die in three years. Dee Dee died of a heroin overdose in 2002 and Joey died of cancer in 2001.
   The Ramones are widely credited with inventing punk rock. Hit songs, ?I Wanna Be Sedated,? ?Blitzkrieg Bop,? ?Rockaway Beach,? and ?Sheena Is A Punk Rock Rocker? among others, earned them an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
   With fast, four chord tunes and catchy melodies, the leather jacket-wearing, mop-topped guys from Forest Hills shook up rock n? roll in the mid-1970s. Although they never had a Top 40 hit in America, and were largely ignored by the mainstream media, they were widely popular overseas. A 1976 tour of England?after their first album debut?led to the formation of bands like the Sex Pistols and The Clash.
   More recently, the influence of The Ramones in the music of pop bands like Green Day, Offspring and The Foo Fighters is unmistakable.
   The band members who originally made up The Ramones all attended Forest Hills High School. In a 1999 interview with the Queens Chronicle, Johnny said he met his future band members through Tommy, who lived across the street from him in Forest Hills. ?We all knew each other, but there was no band yet, we were just friends then,? he said.
   Tommy was formerly known as Thomas Erdelyi, and was the band?s drummer. Vocalist Jeffrey Hyman changed his name to Joey when he joined the band. Bassist Douglas Colvin became known as Dee Dee.
   After spending his early days on Long Island, Johnny attended military school for two years, an experience he remembered fondly.
   ?(Military school) is good for everybody to go through because it teaches you discipline. It gets you more organized and there?s less excuses,? he told the Chronicle. Johnny credited his commitment to the band to the hard lessons he learned at the academy.
   ?I never missed a day of high school or a day of work in my whole life,? he said. Because of his work ethic and fierce advocacy of the band?s interests, Johnny earned a reputation as The Ramones? father figure.
   After military school, Johnny and his family briefly lived in Jackson Heights. They later settled in an apartment in Birchwood Towers on 66th Road and Yellowstone Boulevard in Forest Hills.
   Apparently, Johnny felt no love for Forest Hills judging from Queens-inspired songs such as ?We?re a Happy Family,? which capture a perverse side of the borough.
   ?Sitting here in Queens, eatin? refried beans, we?re all in the magazines, gulping down Thorazines. We ain?t got no friends, our troubles never end, no Christmas cards to send, Daddy likes men,? Joey sang.
   Other songs about Queens include ?Rockaway Beach? (?It?s not far, not far to reach, we can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach?) and ?Beat on the Brat,? which Joey wrote about all the ?spoiled brats in Queens.?
   The band members had an equal disdain for their alma mater. ?Rock, rock, rock, rock n? roll high school, I hate the teachers and the principal, Don?t wanna be taught to be no fool,? they sang in ?Rock n? Roll High School.?
   Although Johnny didn?t pick up his first guitar until he was 22, he briefly played bass in a Forest Hills rock cover band called The Tangerine Puppets, with Tommy on guitar.
   But music faded into the background for Johnny in the early 1970s when he went to work in construction in Manhattan. He eventually lost his job because of affirmative action.
   ?So I said to Dee Dee (who worked in the mailroom at the construction site), let?s fool around, let?s play music together, let?s get a band together,? he said. On a trip with Dee Dee to Manny?s guitar emporium in Manhattan, Johnny bought a $20 Mosrite guitar and began practicing. It was 1974.
   Tommy, who was running Performance Studios in Manhattan, was enlisted as the unofficial manager/promoter and Joey was brought in to be the drummer. Shortly thereafter, the band played its first gig to a handful of friends at Tommy?s music studio.
   ?We were terrible,? Johnny said. ?I don?t think we had any more friends after that show.?
   After considering removing Joey and starting from scratch, the band members instead decided to switch him to vocals. Tommy became a full-time drummer and the band began to click, Johnny recalled.
   In August 1974, The Ramones started their long stint at the now immortal CBGB?s on the Bowery in Manhattan. A year later, they had become CBGB?s virtual ?house band? and started to develop a small but devoted following. Part of The Ramones? appeal was its Beatles-gone-bad image, which included long, bowl-style haircuts, T-shirts, blue jeans and leather jackets.
   ?It wasn?t planned out,? Johnny said about the image. ?It was stuff we were already wearing and it just evolved.?
   The music, he added, came from his desire to play ?pure white rock n? roll? with no blues influence.
   ?There?s too much jamming in blues influenced bands. It was too late at age 25 to learn to be Jimmy Page or Jeff Beck. We were just trying to write great rock n? roll songs,? he says. ?And with my guitar, I just wanted it to sound like pure energy.?
   In the Chronicle interview, Johnny admitted that his trademark stage stance, with guitar slung low and legs spread wide facing the audience, was the result of careful planning.
   ?I bought the guitar and just stood in front of the mirror for a while,? he said. ?I practiced standing with my guitar before I could play.?
   In early 1976, the band cut its first album, ?Ramones,? for $6,200 and began to tour relentlessly. They played at Queens College in Flushing during their first tour.
   The band continued to tour and record music until its final concert in 1996. Along the way, they played 2,263 gigs and recorded 18 albums. Most of it is compiled on the 58 song ?Hey! Ho! Let?s Go!? career retrospective.
   When Johnny retired, he sold his amps and guitars. The band mates did not remain the best of friends. The love of Joey?s life, Linda, ran off with Johnny and had become his wife years before. It destroyed their relationship.
   When Joey was on his deathbed in 2001, Johnny did not visit or speak to him, explaining in the documentary about The Ramones that he would not expect Joey to visit him on his death bed either.
   In recent years, Johnny was an avid film fan and was known to watch two movies a day. His private collection contained 4,000 VHS tapes and DVDs. Other hobbies included reading film and baseball books. Unlike many of his musician friends, Johnny was a Republican. Some of his favorite TV shows included Fox News? ?Hannity and Colmes,? and ?The O?Reilly Factor.? His favorite president was Ronald Reagan.
   In a July message on The Ramones official web site, Johnny posted a message to his fans, in response to the thousands of queries about his health. His wife, Linda, did the typing because he was too weak.
   ?I just wanted all of you to know I?m still here and trying to hold on for a little while longer,? it said. ?All of your kindness and love are very much appreciated, even though in the past I may not have said it. Keep up the prayers, I need all that I can get! Johnny.?
   In addition to his wife, Johnny is survived by his mother, Estelle Cummings. He was cremated during a private ceremony.
   A tribute concert to The Ramones, featuring The Strokes and Blondie, is scheduled for October 8th at Spirit New York in Manhattan. Call 212-268-9477 or go to www.spiritnewyork.com.