His death was announced by the Ramones' official Twitter account in the early hours of Saturday morning. The account tweeted, "We are saddened to announce the passing of Ramones founding drummer Tommy (Erdelyi) Ramone. #RIPTommyRamone."

Born Erdelyi Tamas in Budapest, Hungary, he co-founded the Ramones in 1974 in New York along with singer Joey Ramone (born Jeffrey Hyman), bassist Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Colvin) and guitarist Johnny Ramone (John Cummings). All four changed their stage names to "Ramone" after forming the band, something which all subsequent members of the band did as well.