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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

AP Reports: Though they never had a Top 40 song, seminal punk band “The Ramones” left a formidable imprint on the rock genre. The quartet’s impact was evident Wednesday when guitarist Johnny Ramone died in his sleep at his Los Angeles home surrounded by family members and rocker Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and singer Rob Zombie. Ramone, who had been fighting a five-year battle with prostate cancer, was 55.

The band’s singer, Joey Ramone, whose real name is Jeff Hyman, died in 2001 of lymphatic cancer. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone, whose real name is Douglas Colvin, died from a drug overdose in 2002. Read More Here…

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.