Joey Ramone Battling Cancer

March 19, 2001 -- Joey Ramone, lead singer of seminal punk act the Ramones, is battling lymphoma.

The 49-year-old singer has been coping with the cancer in a New York-area hospital. Spokesman Arturo Vega told the New York Daily News, "Joey watched a tape of [television drama] The Sopranos on Wednesday. He's doing better and better."

Ramone, born Jeffrey Hyman, formed the punk rock band in his hometown of Queens, New York, in 1974, along with John Cummings (Johnny Ramone) and Douglas Colvin (Dee Dee Ramone).

The group's boiled-down, sped-up pop-rock style reinvigorated the rock scene and influenced the sound of punk acts such as the Sex Pistols and the Buzzcocks. The band was one of the first punk acts to sign a record contract, in 1975.

Though the band's most well-known songs — including "Rock and Roll High School," "I Wanna Be Sedated," and "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" — were recorded in the 1970s and early '80s, the act continued, with several lineup shuffles, until 1995's Adios Amigos.