Johnny Ramone Hospitalized

LOS ANGELES – Johnny Ramone (search), guitarist for the legendary punk band The Ramones, was hospitalized with an infection related to prostate cancer, his publicist said Thursday.

"He is receiving the medication he needs and will be leaving the hospital next week to continue his recovery," spokesman Paul Bloch said.

Ramone, 55, whose birth name is John Cummings, was at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

He and his wife, Linda, released the statement in response to recent, conflicting reports about his health, Bloch said.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine (search), drummer Marky Ramone said the guitarist's health was declining.

"He went through many chemotherapy treatments," Marky Ramone told the magazine. "Some of it worked better than others. At this point (the cancer) has started to go into other areas of the body."

Bloch said he was unaware of the Rolling Stone report.

"If someone says anything contrary, I don't know anything about that," Bloch said. "I got a call from Linda and Johnny last night and they asked me to put out the statement."

Johnny Ramone was one of the original four members of the Ramones, whose memorable three-chord anthems like "I Wanna Be Sedated" (search) and "Blitzkrieg Bop" landed them in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

The band formed in Queens in the mid-1970s, eventually becoming mainstays of the Bowery nightclub CBGB's where Blondie (search) and the Talking Heads (search) both emerged.

The band's singer, Joey Ramone, whose real name is Jeff Hyman, died in 2001 of lymphatic cancer. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone, whose real name was Douglas Colvin, died from a drug overdose in 2002.