Arthur Kane

Arthur Harold Kane Jr. (February 3, 1949 – July 13, 2004) was an American musician best known as the bass guitarist for the pioneering glam rock band the New York Dolls. Kane was a founding member of the Dolls in 1971 and remained an integral part of the band until he was forced out in 1975, shortly after the departure of Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan. In 2004, after decades of estrangement from Dolls singer David Johansen, Kane rejoined the surviving Dolls (Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain) to rehearse and play a reunion concert in London, which was the subject of the 2005 documentary New York Doll. In addition to his bass playing, Kane was known for his subculture fashion sense and for uttering original aphorisms in his uniquely toned voice. Kane's nickname, "Killer", was inspired by the first article written about the Dolls in which the journalist described Kane's "killer bass playing". Kane also said that it was inspired by the adversary of the 1930s' science fiction hero Buck Rogers, a villainous character named Killer Kane.