Mike Nesmith of The Monkees dies at 78

Question

Sad news from the music world. Mike Nesmith, song writer and guitarist for the Monkees, died at home aged 78.  

Read story here.

His mother invented Liquid Paper, and can bee seen here on her Wikipedia page. 

Comments

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nesmith-1

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I saw this on my Facebook feed earlier. Now three of the four Monkees have passed. I was in "junior high" when they were at the peak of their popularity. I was friends with three other girls and we each chose a different one of the Monkees as our "favorite." I got Peter Tork since one of the others claimed Mike first but I really preferred Mike over all the others. A very talented man. A gifted song-writer and guitarist. I recently watched a YouTube documentary on the Monkees and, although they began as the front-men for a "manufactured for TV band" for whom studio musicians were hired to play the instruments, all four young men worked diligently to become a real band who wrote and played their own music and ultimately gained the respect of other musicians and loyal fans.

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Here is Peter Tork:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Thorkelson-13

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Davy

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jones-77472

Answer 1

Sorry to hear this... I remember going to see the Monkees --my very first live concert -- at the San Francisco Cow Palace when I was around 13. And there was also the Monkees TV program.

Answer 2

Hi Alex, I didn't manage to do any weekend sources due to funeral. I saw the information about Michael Nesmith's death and was very saddened. He just played Vegas with Mickey Dolenz a month ago!

Did you know that Michael Nezmith's mother invented white out???

Answer 3

I LOVED The Monkees. I was about 12 when they showed up on my radio--right in the middle of the target demographic. My family didn't own a TV so every Monday night I was over at a friend's house to watch the show. Plus my friend had their albums (which I didn't have the money to buy) so I listened at her house. On day another friend gave me the "45" of "I'm a Believer" with "Stepping Stone" on the B side, and I just about wore it out. My favorite Monkee was Davy, because he was so darn cute....

Fast forward to 2016,when The Monkees played at the Golden State Theater in Monterey, California. I bought a ticket as soon as they went on sale... and then a few days before the show, it was announced that Mike would join Micky and Peter for one night only (because he lived here). Even better! He actually joined them onstage just for the last 4 songs.

The show was a hoot and a half. They had an excellent group of backing musicians that handled a lot of the instrumental heavy lifting, but Peter was right up front alternately playing keyboards, guitar and banjo. And he was FUNNY. Absolute deadpan humor that about had me rolling on the floor. Micky, Mister Personality, did much of the talking. They had a drum kit set up for him which he played in a few songs. He also played some acoustic guitar, and performed Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode. Why Chuck Berry? Because, as he said, it was his audition song for The Monkees and that was how he got the gig.

They even played at least one song from their (then) new album, called (I think) "She makes me laugh." It sounded like very typical Monkees material.

As mentioned, Mike came on and did the last 4 songs, ending with "I'm a Believer" (of course). And after they took their bow, the three of them put arms around each other's shoulders and did that funny walk off the stage.

I managed to get a video of, unfortunately, not the whole song, without the greatest phone camera in the world... but even with the missing beginning, it's a decent representation of the experience. I've put that video into a shared Google photo album in case anyone would like to see it. Here's the link:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eus67mbWwE71P5RD7

Enjoy!

Answer 4

I am 7th cousins 1x removed with Mike Nesmith!