Richie Stern

Richie Stern is an American musician, best known as the original bassist for punk-rock bank Ramones, before being replaced by Dee Dee Ramone.

The book, "Ramones:An American Band" states that he was only in a few rehearsals before being kicked out because he couldn't keep up, though in interviews, Joey Ramone has said that he was sent to a mental institution, and Dee Dee Ramone has said that he left because he obtained a "high paying job". An interview with Tommy Ramones said of him, "I met John in the High School cafeteria, somebody introduced me to him. And he charmed me, he's a very charismatic fellow. We were in several bands together in High School, the most famous of which was the Tangerine Puppets. Then, after High School, we kind of drifted apart and went our separate ways. But he would call me up every now and then on the phone to see what was going on, and I would always ask him what he was doing, whether he was playing, and he said he wasn't playing. And I said "Why don't you play? You should be in a band", because I always thought he had the right kind of personality and charm to be in a rock band. So one day he calls me up and he tells me he'd bought a guitar. I said "Great, fabulous" . He told me he was playing with Dee Dee and I said "Great. This is just what I've been waiting for", because I always thought that these colourful people from Forest Hills would make an exciting unit. So I told him. "let's get together." We got together at John's house, with Joey, Dee Dee, myself, and a guy named Richie Stern, Who was the famous first Richie Ramone..." [1]

[1] http://www.officialramones.com/site/tommy/tommy.html