Billy Murcia (October 9, 1951 – November 6, 1972) was the original drummer for the

New York Dolls New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial suc ...

.Jacobson, Mark
"The Icon: Doll Face"
''

New York (magazine) ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...

'', September 23, 2002. Accessed May 28, 2009. "Then came the sad pictures: Johnny and Jerry, RIP, and Billy Murcia too, their first drummer, a Colombian from Jackson Heights, dead in a London bathtub."

Biography

Murcia was born in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

, Colombia, and raised in Jackson Heights, New York, United States. He and

Sylvain Sylvain Sylvain Mizrahi (February 14, 1951 – January 13, 2021), known professionally as Sylvain Sylvain, was an American rock guitarist, most notable for being a member of the New York Dolls. Early years Sylvain was born in Cairo, Egypt, to a Jewish ...

both attended Quintano's School for Young Professionals, in the late sixties. It was at Quintano's that they met

Johnny Thunders John Anthony Genzale (July 15, 1952 – April 23, 1991), known professionally as Johnny Thunders, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of the New York Dolls. He later played wit ...

, also a student there. They made their musical debut in 1967, in a band called "The Pox". They owned and co-managed a clothing business called "Truth and Soul". Murcia was a fundamental ingredient of the original New York Dolls sound and played during their now-legendary series of weekly shows at the

Mercer Arts Center The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was foun ...

. While on a brief tour of England in 1972, Murcia was invited to a party where he passed out from an accidental heroin drug overdose. In an attempt to revive him he was put in a bathtub and force-fed coffee, which resulted in asphyxiation and death.Living (and dead) dolls
By Peter Shapiro The Times May 21, 2004 He died before the New York Dolls recorded their first album and was later replaced by

Jerry Nolan Gerard "Jerry" Nolan (May 7, 1946 – January 14, 1992) was an American rock drummer, best known for his work with the New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers. Career A native of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Nolan joined the New York Dolls in the aut ...

in 1973. The final gig of their tour, at the Manchester Hardrock, was canceled, and the band flew back to New York City. Murcia can be heard playing live with the New York Dolls on '' Lipstick Killers: The Mercer Street Sessions''.

wrote a song called "Billy Boy", in honor of his friend and former band member. It was recorded on ''

Que Sera Sera "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" is a song written by the team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans that was first published in 1955. Doris Day introduced it in the Alfred Hitchcock film '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1956), singing it as ...

'' in 1985. The song "

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

", from

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's ''

Aladdin Sane ''Aladdin Sane'' is the sixth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 20April 1973 through RCA Records. The follow-up to his breakthrough ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' (1972), it was the fi ...

'' album, references Murcia and his untimely demise.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murcia, Billy 1951 births 1972 deaths Musicians from Bogotá Colombian rock musicians American punk rock drummers American male drummers Colombian emigrants to the United States People from Jackson Heights, Queens New York Dolls members 20th-century American drummers Accidental deaths in London Deaths from asphyxiation 20th-century American male musicians