Oldfart
02-29-2012, 06:14 PM
This is the news item from the Oz ABC.
Davy Jones, the former lead singer of the 1960s made-for-television pop band The Monkees, has died a the age of 66 after suffering a heart attack.
Publicist Helen Kensick said Jones died of a heart attack in Indiantown, Florida, but she had no further details.
Christine Weekes, administrative manager for the medical examiner's office in Fort Pierce, Florida, near the Martin Memorial Hospital South where the performer had been taken, confirmed the death.
Jones, born in Manchester, England, became the principal teen idol of the rock quartet featured on the NBC comedy series The Monkees, which was inspired in part by the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night and ran for two seasons from the fall of 1966 to August of 1968.
Although not allowed to play their own instruments on their early records, Jones and his three cohorts - Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork - had several hits that sold millions of copies, including Last Train To Clarksville and I'm A Believer.
Jones sang lead vocals on hit singles Daydream Believer, A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You and Valleri.
He got his start as a young actor, at the age of 11, on the British soap opera Coronation Street before landing a role as the Artful Dodger in a West End production of Oliver! He went on to originate that role for the Broadway production and earned a Tony nomination.
But Jones gained worldwide stardom after answering a casting call for a new TV series being created about the zany misadventures of four Beatles-like rock musicians called The Monkees.
Two members of the group, Nesmith and Tork, were actual musicians with performing and recording experience, while Jones and Dolenz were primarily actors who dabbled in music.
Although disparaged by critics as the "Pre-Fab Four" for the manufactured way in which the band came together, the group proved to be adept performers who were eventually given control over their own recordings.
The TV series, introduced by its catchy theme Hey Hey We're the Monkees, debuted as an immediate ratings hit weeks after the group's first single, Last Train To Clarksville, had topped the pop charts.
The group collaborated early on with some of the major songwriters and session musicians of the day, including Neil Diamond, Carole King, Glen Campbell and Hal Blaine.
A self-titled first LP topped the album charts in October 1966, and the popularity of the group generated a wave of merchandising, including toys, games and lunchboxes. But their first and only feature film, Head, was a box office flop.
After their fifth album, the group began to splinter, releasing two more albums as a trio without Tork and one last LP as a duo following Nesmith's exit in 1969.
Jones went on to pursue a less-heralded solo career and appeared as himself in a 1971 episode of the hit sitcom The Brady Bunch, in which character Marcia Brady was president of a Davy Jones fan club and tried to get the singer to perform at her school prom. He made another cameo as himself in 1995's The Brady Bunch Movie.
Three members of The Monkees - Jones, Tork and Dolenz - teamed up for a 20th anniversary reunion tour in 1986 and regrouped again for a tour three years later.
A reunion album by all four original Monkees, Justus, was released in 1996.
A 45th anniversary tour, again without Nesmith, was launched last year.
Jones is survived by his wife, Jessica Pacheco-Jones, and four daughters from two previous marriages.
Groovy guy
In Hollywood, flowers have been laid on Jones' star on the storied Walk of Fame stretch of sidewalk.
Rolling Stone magazine published a tribute to Jones entitled 'In Memory Of The Cute One', saying he "was the grooviest of The Monkees, which makes him one of the grooviest pop stars who ever existed.
"He was the best dancer in The Monkees, the cute one, the one with the coy English accent, the bowl-cut boy-child who shook those cherry-red maracas and always got the girl.
"He was also the guy who stole David Bowie's original name," it added.
Jones was said to be the reason that Bowie - real name David Robert Jones - changed his name in the mid-1960s to avoid any confusion.
Reuters/AFP
Davy Jones, the former lead singer of the 1960s made-for-television pop band The Monkees, has died a the age of 66 after suffering a heart attack.
Publicist Helen Kensick said Jones died of a heart attack in Indiantown, Florida, but she had no further details.
Christine Weekes, administrative manager for the medical examiner's office in Fort Pierce, Florida, near the Martin Memorial Hospital South where the performer had been taken, confirmed the death.
Jones, born in Manchester, England, became the principal teen idol of the rock quartet featured on the NBC comedy series The Monkees, which was inspired in part by the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night and ran for two seasons from the fall of 1966 to August of 1968.
Although not allowed to play their own instruments on their early records, Jones and his three cohorts - Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork - had several hits that sold millions of copies, including Last Train To Clarksville and I'm A Believer.
Jones sang lead vocals on hit singles Daydream Believer, A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You and Valleri.
He got his start as a young actor, at the age of 11, on the British soap opera Coronation Street before landing a role as the Artful Dodger in a West End production of Oliver! He went on to originate that role for the Broadway production and earned a Tony nomination.
But Jones gained worldwide stardom after answering a casting call for a new TV series being created about the zany misadventures of four Beatles-like rock musicians called The Monkees.
Two members of the group, Nesmith and Tork, were actual musicians with performing and recording experience, while Jones and Dolenz were primarily actors who dabbled in music.
Although disparaged by critics as the "Pre-Fab Four" for the manufactured way in which the band came together, the group proved to be adept performers who were eventually given control over their own recordings.
The TV series, introduced by its catchy theme Hey Hey We're the Monkees, debuted as an immediate ratings hit weeks after the group's first single, Last Train To Clarksville, had topped the pop charts.
The group collaborated early on with some of the major songwriters and session musicians of the day, including Neil Diamond, Carole King, Glen Campbell and Hal Blaine.
A self-titled first LP topped the album charts in October 1966, and the popularity of the group generated a wave of merchandising, including toys, games and lunchboxes. But their first and only feature film, Head, was a box office flop.
After their fifth album, the group began to splinter, releasing two more albums as a trio without Tork and one last LP as a duo following Nesmith's exit in 1969.
Jones went on to pursue a less-heralded solo career and appeared as himself in a 1971 episode of the hit sitcom The Brady Bunch, in which character Marcia Brady was president of a Davy Jones fan club and tried to get the singer to perform at her school prom. He made another cameo as himself in 1995's The Brady Bunch Movie.
Three members of The Monkees - Jones, Tork and Dolenz - teamed up for a 20th anniversary reunion tour in 1986 and regrouped again for a tour three years later.
A reunion album by all four original Monkees, Justus, was released in 1996.
A 45th anniversary tour, again without Nesmith, was launched last year.
Jones is survived by his wife, Jessica Pacheco-Jones, and four daughters from two previous marriages.
Groovy guy
In Hollywood, flowers have been laid on Jones' star on the storied Walk of Fame stretch of sidewalk.
Rolling Stone magazine published a tribute to Jones entitled 'In Memory Of The Cute One', saying he "was the grooviest of The Monkees, which makes him one of the grooviest pop stars who ever existed.
"He was the best dancer in The Monkees, the cute one, the one with the coy English accent, the bowl-cut boy-child who shook those cherry-red maracas and always got the girl.
"He was also the guy who stole David Bowie's original name," it added.
Jones was said to be the reason that Bowie - real name David Robert Jones - changed his name in the mid-1960s to avoid any confusion.
Reuters/AFP