The “Daydream Believer” has left this mortal coil. Davy Jones, best known as the “heartthrob” member of The Monkees, passed away Wednesday at 66. The cause of death is said to be heart attack.
Jones was born in Manchester, England in 1945. At age 11, the acting bug bit, and he began appearing in television shows and was cast in the stage musical Oliver!. He also spent time as a jockey, with a passion for horses and horse racing that would persist throughout the rest of his life.
He was nominated for a Tony award at age 16 for his performance as the Artful Dodger when Oliver opened on Broadway. This led to a recording contract and a performance on The Ed Sullivan Show — the same night as The Beatles appeared. His first, self-titled album was released when he was 20 years old.
In 1965, he auditioned for, and won, a lead part in a new television comedy series about a fictional pop band, called The Monkees. The new show, said to have been inspired by the Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night ran until 1968. The group, also consisting of Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith, and Micky Dolenz, released their first album in 1966, despite the fact that they didn’t play instruments when they started. The album featured three hits: “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer,” and “Steppin’ Stone.” Some of the best songwriters of the time, including Tommy Boyce and Neil Diamond, contributed songs to the group, leading to their success in the pop world. The band’s songs have been covered by groups such as Coldplay and Smash Mouth (“I’m a Believer,” in the movie Shrek).
After the breakup of The Monkees in 1970, Jones continued his solo career, scoring a hit, “Rainy Jane.” He also made numerous appearances on television shows of the era, including Love American Style, and The Brady Bunch. And, he returned to the stage to play the part of Fagin in Oliver.
In the 1980s, Tork and Dolenz joined Jones for a reunion tour of The Monkees, and MTV rebroadcast the original TV series. A new Monkees album, Pool It, was released in 1987, and a TV special with the group aired in the late ’90s. Tours of the U.S. and England followed, with the most recent taking place in the spring of 2011. Jones’ final performance was in Oklahoma on February 19.
The Monkees were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989.