Richard Hell

Richard Hell (born October 2, 1949) is the professional name of Richard Meyers, an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and writer.
He is probably best-known as frontman for the early punk rock band Richard Hell & The Voidoids. Their 1977 album, Blank Generation, influenced other early punk bands. The title song is cited as being among the top ten punk songs, for instance, in the book Rough Guide to Punk (2006), by all the various early British punk figures polled in the book.
Hell was an originator of the punk fashion look, the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins. Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols, has said Hell was of some inspiration for the Sex Pistols' look and attitude, as well as the safety-pin accessorized clothing McLaren sold in his London shop, Sex. (Members of the Sex Pistols dispute this.)
Since the late eighties Hell has devoted himself primarily to writing, publishing two novels, as well as several other books. He was the film critic for BlackBook magazine from 2004-2006