Joey Ramone

Jeffrey Ross Hyman was born on May 19, 1951, in Queens, New York City, to a Jewish family. His parents were Charlotte (née Mandell) and Noel Hyman.[2] He was born with a parasitic twin growing out of his back, which was incompletely formed and surgically removed.[3] The family resided in Forest Hills, Queens,[4] where Hyman and his future Ramones bandmates attended Forest Hills High School. He grew up with his brother Mickey Leigh. Though generally a happy person, Hyman was something of an outcast, diagnosed at 18 with obsessive–compulsive disorder and schizophrenia.[5] His mother, Charlotte Lesher, divorced her first husband, Noel Hyman. She married a second time but was widowed when he died in a car accident while she was on vacation.

Hyman was a fan of the Beatles,[6] the Who, David Bowie, and the Stooges among other bands, particularly oldies and the Phil Spector-produced girl groups. His idol was Keith Moon of the Who. Hyman took up the drums at 13, and played them throughout his teen years before picking up an acoustic guitar at age 17.