ROCK PIONEER DEE DEE RAMONE DEAD OF APPARENT DRUG OVERDOSE

LOS ANGELES - Dee Dee Ramone, a founding member of the seminal punk-rock
band the Ramones, was found dead at his Hollywood home late Wednesday. He
was 49.

Ramone was found on a couch by his wife when she returned home at 8:25 p.m.
Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Coroner's office told the Associated
Press. Paramedics were called and he was declared dead at 8:40 p.m.
Investigators found drug paraphernalia at the scene.

A coroner's representative said the preliminary cause of death was
``apparent accidental overdose'' of drugs, but that an official
determination would not be made until toxicology tests were completed.

His death comes 14 months after the Ramones' most famous member, singer
Joey Ramone, died of cancer.

Dee Dee Ramone was a key contributor to the band that is generally
acknowledged as the originator of punk rock. The fast-paced sound brought
energy and rawness to a mid-'70s pop music world dominated by slick disco
and faceless ``corporate rock.'' Although punk began as an underground
movement, it soon became a staple of rock, spawning such bands as the Sex
Pistols and the Clash.

``Dee Dee was the epitome of what punk-rock was all about,'' said the
Ramones' longtime manager, Gary Kurfirst. ``He lived it, he lived
dangerously.''

Born Douglas Colvin in Virginia, Dee Dee Ramone spent much of his youth in
West Germany, where his father was stationed in the Army. He was living in
New York City's Queens borough when he formed a band with friends Jeff
Hyman, John Cummings and Tom Erdelyi. After some instrument-switching and
the adoption of a common surname, bassist Dee Dee, singer Joey, guitarist
Johnny and drummer Tommy Ramone became a sensation on a burgeoning New York
scene that also fostered Talking Heads, Patti Smith and Blondie.

Dee Dee Ramone was a key contributor to the Ramones, co-writing the
satirical anthem ``Teenage Lobotomy'' and the rousing ``Rockaway Beach.''

He left the band, which continued until 1996, in 1989. He recorded a rap
album under the name Dee Dee King, then returned to rock for three
subsequent records. He toured with his wife and two later Ramones members
under the name the Remainz.