Thomas Erdelyi (born Erdélyi Tamás in Budapest, 1949) would become famous as Tommy Ramone, the initial drummer of US punkrock legends The Ramones. He immigrated to the United States with his older brother and parents when he was four.



When the Ramones first came together in August 1974, with Johnny Ramone on guitar, Dee Dee Ramone on bass and Joey Ramone on drums, Erdelyi was supposed to be the manager, but was drafted as the band's drummer when Joey became the lead singer after finding that he couldn't keep up with the Ramones' increasingly fast tempos.



Tommy Ramone would be replaced by Marc Bell (who would join the band under the moniker of Marky Ramone) as Tommy was exhausted after 2 years on the road. Tommy continued working with the band, working with Marky to ensure that his drumming was appropriate for the Ramones style and producing the Ramones fourth studio album 'Road to Ruin'.