Eugene Richard O’Connor, who under the stage name Cheetah Chrome was co-founding guitarist of the legendary Cleveland punk band the Dead Boys, has died at the age of 71.
The band announced O’Connor’s passing in a statement shared to Instagram on Sunday, September 13th. “We are incredibly sad to announce the news of the passing of our beloved friend and bandmate Cheetah Chrome,” the statement read. “Cheetah was a true original, an architect of the punk rock movement. A one-man hurricane tearing up the musical landscape with his feral guitar riffs and manic energy. Beyond all that Cheetah was also just a really sweet guy that loved rock-roll. We extend our deepest condolences to Cheetah’s family, friends and fans around the world. His music lives on and will continue to inspire others for generations to come. We ask for privacy during this difficult time. Godspeed Cheetah. Tony, Chris, Mark and the entire Dead Boys family.”
O’Connor initially played in the proto-punk band Rocket from the Tombs before forming Dead Boys alongside fellow RFTT members Stiv Bators and Johnny Madansky. The punk group released two albums, 1977’s Young, Loud and Snotty and 1978’s We Have Come for Your Children, and was also featured prominently in Lech Kowalski’s seminal 1980 punk documentary D.O.A.: A Right of Passage.
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Dead Boys first disbanded in 1980, after which O’Connor pursued several solo projects, did session work, and even toured with GG Allin. The band would periodically reunite over the following decades, first in 1987, again in 2004, and once more beginning in 2017.
O’Connor chronicled his life in the 2010 memoir Cheetah Chrome: A Dead Boy’s Tale from the Front Lines of Punk Rock. He was also portrayed on screen by Rupert Grint in the 2013 film CBGB.