Today on, “Days to Remember,” we celebrate how May 24th 1986, Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork reunited as the Monkees. They kicked off their reunion tour at the Concord Hotel, in New York’s Catskills Mountains.
Who remembers the Monkees?
The group was formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968.
The musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork and British actor and singer Davy Jones. The band’s music was initially supervised by producer Don Kirshner.
Micky Dolenz was born at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital (now Cedars-Sinai Medical Center), in Los Angeles, California, the son of actors George Dolenz and Janelle Johnson.
In 1965, Dolenz was cast in the television sitcom The Monkees and became the drummer and a lead vocalist in the band created for the show. He was not at that time a drummer. He needed lessons even to be able to mime credibly but eventually was taught how to play properly. By the time The Monkees went on tour in late 1966, Dolenz was competent enough to play the drums himself.
Michael Nesmith was born in Houston, Texas in 1942. When Nesmith was 13, his mother invented a typewriter correction fluid later known commercially as Liquid Paper. Over the next 25 years she built the Liquid Paper Corporation into a multimillion dollar international company, which she finally sold to Gillette in 1979 for US$48 million.
Nesmith began his recording career in 1963 by releasing a single on the Highness label. He followed this in 1965 with a one-off single released on Edan Records followed by two more recorded singles; one was titled “The New Recruit” under the name “Michael Blessing,” released on Colpix Records, coincidentally also the label of Davy Jones, though they did not meet until The Monkees formed.
Peter Tork was born at the former Doctors Hospital, in Washington, D.C. Although he was born in the District of Columbia in 1942, many news articles incorrectly report him as born in 1944 in New York City, which was the date and place given on early Monkees press releases.
Tork got the job and became one of the four members of the Monkees, a fictitious pop band in the mid 1960s, created for a television comedy sitcom written about the fictitious band. Tork was the oldest member of the group.
David Thomas Jones was born at 20 Leamington Street, Openshaw, Manchester, Lancashire, England, on December 30th 1945. From 1966 to 1971, Jones was a member of the Monkees, a pop-rock group formed expressly for a television show of the same name. He was child actor in England before he came to America.
Today’s YouTube video presentation brought to you by user name, (The Madster 200), gives a the theme song and ending song of the hit show in the 60s called, “The Monkees,” as we celebrate how May 24th 1986, Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork reunited as the Monkees. They kicked off their reunion tour at the Concord Hotel, in New York’s Catskills Mountains.
For the first few months of their initial five-year career as the Monkees, the four actor-musicians were allowed only limited roles in the recording studio. This was due in part to the amount of time required to film the television series.
Nonetheless, Nesmith did compose and produce some songs from the beginning, and Peter Tork contributed limited guitar work on the sessions produced by Nesmith.
They eventually fought for and earned the right to collectively supervise all musical output under the band’s name. The sitcom was canceled in 1968, but the band continued to record music through 1971, but on May 24th 1986, Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork reunited as the Monkees. They kicked off their reunion tour at the Concord Hotel, in New York’s Catskills Mountains.
Written & Designed by JD Mitchell
jdmitchelldesigns@gmail.com
Days to Remember 