This saddens me greatly.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dee Dee Ramone
dead at 50

LOS ANGELES, June 6 ˜ Dee Dee Ramone, a founding member of the pioneer punk band the Ramones, was found dead of a possible drug overdose in his Hollywood home, the coroner‚s office said Thursday. He was 50.

RAMONE, whose real name was Douglas Glenn Colvin, was found dead on the couch by his wife when she returned home at 8:25 p.m. Wednesday, said Craig Harvey, operations chief for the coroner‚s office. Paramedics were called and he was declared dead at 8:40 p.m. „The investigator noted drug paraphernalia, including a single syringe on the kitchen counter, and we are handing it as a possible accidental overdose, Harvey said. An autopsy was planned later Thursday.

The death comes 11 weeks after the band was celebrated with induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Lead singer Joey Ramone died in April of last year of lymphoma, a form of cancer. He was 49.