Davy Jones, The Monkees, dead at 66.

Davy Jones of the Monkees dies at 66. Music Notes.
The Monkees rivaled and mimiced the Beatles from 1966 to 1970. In 1964, Davy Jones (pre-Monkee) appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show on the same night that the Beatles first appeared. Jones was the only British citizen in the Monkees. (American-born: Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork)

Note: Rock superstar David Bowie’s real name was also David Jones and changed it to Bowie with the release of his first single “Space Oddity” in 1969, well after Davy Jones and the Monkees were stars. They rivaled the Beatles’ chart success, although not their creativity. Their Saturday morning show was a Marx Brothers/Three Stooges style. A kind of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” for kids that featured soon-to-be hits. Great opening TV theme, too. They were a little too old to be considered a “boy band”. Marketing rock bands was new in 1966 and the Monkees enbraced it… here had millions of devoted record-buying fans, lunch boxes etc…

Their sold-out reunion tours confirmed their post-Billboard chart popularity.

The Monkees were created by Don Kirshner, a producer with songwriting and chart connections. Neil Diamond (wrote ” I’m A Believer” ) and connections with the Brill Building team kept fresh hit singles coming for the “pre-fab four”. After the Monkees broke up, he developed “The Archies” (“Sugar Sugar”, #1, 1969) for the same teen audience. An animated gang who got into hi-jinks and sang songs, just like the Monkees. Then in 1972, he produced a late night classic, Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert. This lip sync show in the pre-MTV era was the only was that fans got to see these singers/bands without going to a concert.

Michael Nesmith : wrote “Different Drum” for Linda Ronstadt, he also had a solo hit (#21) “Joanne”(1970).

Pop music kings in great era of pop music. The heart-throb (like McCartney) of the group, Jones appeared many shows including The Brady Bunch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm39e0w8fzw&feature=player_embedded#!