SYLVAIN SYLVAIN

Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls died at home in Nashville on 13th January, 2021. He was 69. The Dolls were one of those most influential bands of all time, credited with creating the New York punk scene that spawned the Ramones. They gained admirers as diverse as The Smiths, Guns N’ Roses and Blondie, and the musical style Sylvain helped develop came to be known as punk.

The band that would become the New York Dolls was formed in 1971; Sylvain joined later that year and gave the band its name. They combined the gender-defying looks of English glam rock with a dirty, basic take on early US rock ’n’ roll. While the Dolls had little initial success, Kiss struck gold by copying their glam plus hard rock formula. The Sex Pistols, helped by former Dolls manager Malcolm Mclaren, were a British take on the same blueprint, while in 1980s America bands such Mötley Crüe and Poison went platinum with a more polished version of the same idea.

Sylvain used Gretsch guitars, particularly a White Falcon that inspired The Cult’s Billy Duffy. Like his fellow Gretsch enthusiast Malcolm Young, Sylvain was the engine of his band, cranking out energized, unfancy power chords. The Dolls imploded in 1975 after just two albums, but Sylvain and the only other surviving original member, singer David Johansen, reunited in 2006 for a further three albums.