Monkees’ Mike Nesmith Dies At 78
• And then there was one… Michael Nesmith, the wool-hat-wearing original member of the wildly popular 1960’s made-for-TV band The Monkees, died Friday, Nov.10 from natural causes. He was 78.
Nesmith’s family released a statement that reads, “With Infinite Love we announce that Michael Nesmith has passed away this morning in his home, surrounded by family, peacefully and of natural causes. We ask that you respect our privacy at this time and we thank you for the love and light that all of you have shown him and us.”
Nesmith’s passing came less than a month after he and his fellow surviving Monkees’ bandmate Mickey Dolenz — Davy Jones died in 2012, and Peter Tork passed in 2019 — finished a farewell tour, informally dubbed “The Mike & Mickey Show” Nov. 14 at the Greek Theatre in L.A. (The band’s final four songs were captured on video). Upon hearing the news of Nesmith’s death, Dolenz tweeted, “I’m heartbroken. I’ve lost a dear friend and partner. I’m so grateful that we could spend the last couple of months together doing what we loved best — singing, laughing, and doing shtick. I’ll miss it all so much. Especially the shtick. Rest in peace, Nez. All my love, Micky.”
In 1970, two years after the cancellation of The Monkees TV series, Nesmith followed his country-rock sensibilities by forming The First National Band and releasing three albums. Nesmith also famously penned “Different Drum,” which became a Top 15 hit in 1967 for a fledgling band called the Stone Poneys, which featured a lead vocalist by the name of Linda Ronstadt.
In 1974, in a move considered to be ahead of the curve, Nesmith branched out into video production, founding Pacific Arts Corp. The company’s PopClips show, produced for the new Nickelodeon network, provided the seed for MTV. Nesmith also held the distinction of winning the first-ever Grammy Award for Music Video with his 1982 collection Elephant Parts. Pacific Arts later branched into film production; Nesmith served as the Executive Producer of the 1984 cult comedy Repo Man and co-producer of 1988’s Tapeheads.
And yes, that famous story about Nesmith inheriting a fortune from his mother’s “Liquid Paper money” is actually true — Bette Nesmith Graham‘s work as a secretary, post-divorce, ultimately led to her development of a new product, the typewriter correction fluid named Liquid Paper. Following his mother’s death in 1980, Nesmith inherited half of her estate, estimated at more than $50 million.
Over the years, Nesmith sat out several Monkees reunion tours, but in 1996-97 he participated in the group’s reunion album Justus, directed a TV special starring the band and appeared on a tour of the U.K. Following Jones death in 2012, he undertook further touring and recording with Dolenz and Tork. In 2018, he performed a brief run of shows with a re-formed First National Band and a summer duo tour with Dolenz.
For a more in-depth look at Nesmith’s life and his career with The Monkees, we invite you to read Chris Morris‘ excellent coverage in Variety
