The coolest rock guitarist ever! 

RIP Johnny

As I remember it, there were some questionable aspects regarding Johnny's death (he was suffering from leukemia at the time, I believe). I was a big fan; I made a pilgrimage out to the Queens cemetery where he's buried (Louis Armstrong is buried in the cemetery across the street). Whatever the actual circumstances of Johnny's death, and I don't pretend to know one way or the other, someone said or wrote (and their name escapes me, unfortunately), "While it's sad, it's not a shock that he's dead; what's shocking is that he lived as long as he did."

Murder?  Speculative at best.  His sad drugged up life ended in a crumby New Orleans Hotel room with unanswered questions as to the cause of death, but there was little to suggest that he was going to end up any other way.

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Although John lived much longer than his friends expected him to, his murder in New Orleans took one of the great rock'n'rollers from us much too soon.

http://www.thunders.ca/