Emblematic figureheads of the American punk rock scene, The Heartbreakers were conceived in the summer of 1975 from the ashes of the New York Dolls, which included Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan. The first line-up consisted of Richard Hell on bass, Johnny Thunders on guitar and vocals, Jerry Nolan on drums, and Walter Lure on guitar and vocals. Walter Lure performed with his new band for the first time on July 4, 1975, at CBGB, the iconic incubator of the New York punk scene. After a rocky start, Sex Pistols' manager Malcolm McLaren invited the band to take part in a joint tour with The Damned and The Clash. Their first album, L.A.M.F., short for Like a Mother Fucker, was released in 1977. It was panned by the critics but went on to become a cult New York punk album. In 1978, the band broke up, plagued by drug addiction and a lack of discipline. Jerry Nolan was the first to leave, while Johnny Thunders later embarked on a solo career. While the band occasionally reformed, it was mainly live albums of uneven quality that punctuated The Heartbreakers' posthumous discography. Their last official concert took place on November 30, 1990 at the Marquee in New York. After that, the health of Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan, the band's historic pillars, deteriorated rapidly. The former died in 1991, the latter the following year.
