The Heartbreaker

Richard Hell was born Richard Meyers on October 2, 1949.

In 1969, He and friend Tom Verlaine started a band called Neon Boys, later changing their name to Television.

Television became the first "punk" band to play CBGBs and became the club's house band.

In 1975 Hell quite Television, it just so happened that that same week Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders quite The New York Dolls. They joined together and started The Heartbreakers.

They were notorious for being a band made up of junkies. Showing their love for smack in the song "Chinese Rock", originally written by Dee Dee Ramone.

Richard Hell was the first to start cutting up his clothes and putting holes and safety pins in his clothes. He was a major influence on the punk style and attitude, being stated as a major influence on the famed english punk store "Sex".

Hell quit The Heartbreakers in 1976, it is rumored that one of his main reasons for quitting was conflict between him and Thunders and Hell started dating Thunder's long time girlfriend Sable Starr.

That same year he started the band Richard Hell & The Voidoids with Robert Quine, Ivan Julian, and Marc Bell

In 1977, they release their debut album Blank Generation.

The song "Blank Generation" being the best known song.

They only released one more album, Destiny Street, before they broke up. Destiny Street being less successful because the line up of the band had changed. Hell and Quine being the only original members. 

Since the break up of The Voidoids, Hell has only released one more album with the band Dim Stars in the early 1990s. He has also become an accomplished writer, releasing eight books since 1992.

But he will always be remembered for his ripped shirts, cool guy attitude, and the amazing music he created.