CAUTION: I am NOT Richard Hell himself, just a fan!
Richard Hell (born October 2, 1949) is the professional name of Richard Meyers, an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer.Hell grew up in Lexington, Kentucky in the 1950s. Hell attended Sanford Preparatory in Delaware for one year (the 11th grade) where he became friends with Tom Miller (later Tom Verlaine).
Hell never finished high school but moved to New York City to make his way as a poet. In 1969, Verlaine joined Hell in New York and they eventually formed the Neon Boys. In 1974 the band added a second guitar player and changed names to Television.
Television's performances at CBGB helped kick-start the first wave of punk bands, inspiring a number of different artists including Patti Smith who wrote the first press review of Television for the Soho Weekly News in June of 1974.
Later Hell split (or was fired from) Television after a dispute over creative control. The same week Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders quit the New York Dolls. Three of them formed a band called The Heartbreakers (not to be confused with the later Tom Petty band).
He is probably best-known as frontman for the early punk rock band Richard Hell & The Voidoids (formed in 1976). Their 1977 album, Blank Generation, influenced many other punk bands. The title song is ranked as one of the all-time top ten punk songs by a 2006 poll of original British punk figures, as reported in the Rough Guide to Punk.
Richard's best known songs with the Voidoids were "Blank Generation" (the title track of the group's original album), "Love Comes in Spurts," "The Kid With the Replaceable Head," and "Time".
Hell was an originator of the punk fashion look, the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins. Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols, has said Hell was of some inspiration for the Sex Pistols' look and attitude, as well as the safety-pin accessorized clothing McLaren sold in his London shop, Sex. (Some members of the Sex Pistols dispute this.)
Since the late eighties, nineties Hell has devoted himself primarily to writing, publishing two novels (Go Now in 1996, Godlike in 2055) as well as several other books (collection of short Hot and Cold in 2001). He was the film critic for BlackBook magazine from 2004-2006.
Hell's archive of his manuscripts, tapes, correspondence (written and email), journals, and other documents of his life was purchased for $50,000 by New York University's Fales library in 2003.
In 2007 he started making a movie which he wrote and acts in as well as directs. It appears to deal with the experience of aging.
Thank you for the add. You still look very handsome. And I love your song "Time". And it brought back memories, all the different clubs; but I remember CBGB's the most. Hope you are having a good weekend...Nancy
We've got some good news.! there is the first studio.record of …chief the clint…. „the grammy is other“ to hear on chief the clint´s MySpace! long live International PsychJazz Revolution
