Singer-songwriter, writer, actor-director and entrepreneur Michael Nesmith, remembered as the wool-hatted, guitar-strumming member of acclaimed rock band The Monkees, has died aged 78.
Nesmith’s family, who underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2018, announced to Rolling Stone that the iconic singer died at home of natural causes.
Nesmith was a formidable singer-songwriter, when “The Monkees” television debuted in September 1966 when he and fellow band members Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and David Jones turned into rock stars overnight.
Dolenz, the last surviving member of the group, who completed a farewell tour with Nesmith last month, said on Instagram that he had lost a dear friend and partner.
“I’m so grateful we’ve been able to spend the last few months together doing what we love most, singing, laughing and scandalizing. I will miss them all so much,” said Dolenz.
Who is Michael Nesmith?
After the band broke up in 1970, Nesmith went on to pursue a long and creative career not only as a musician but as a writer, producer and film director, author of several books, president of a media arts company, and a music creator.
Nesmith was running a “good night” at the popular West Hollywood nightclub The Troubadour when he saw a commercial for “four crazy boys” looking for “four crazy boys” to play rock musicians in a band modeled after the Beatles.
Created by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, the show featured the hilarious misadventures of a quartet working in Los Angeles in a rogue Pontiac GTO named MonkeeMobile and pursuing music stardom while not chasing girls.
Each episode released two or three new Monkees songs, and six of them became Top 10 Billboard hits during the show’s two-year run. The other three, “I’m a Believer”, “Daydream Believer” and “Last Train to Clarksville” reached #1. They had four #1 albums in 1967 alone.
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