related items
The beloved lead singer of The Monkees died in Florida this...
•Davy Jones appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show with the Broadway cast of Oliver! on Feb. 9, 1964 — the same night The Beatles (the band The Monkees were modeled after) made their first appearance on the show.
•David Bowie was born David Jones but changed his name in 1965 because of Davy Jones' pre-Monkees success playing the Artful Dodger in Oliver!
•Stephen Stills auditioned for The Monkees but couldn't come to an agreement with the show's producers, so he recommended that his buddy Peter Tork try out. Others who auditioned included songwriters Harry Nilsson and Paul Williams.
•According to Billboard, The Monkees sold more albums in 1967 than The Beatles and the Rolling Stones put together.
•Jimi Hendrix opened for The Monkees' 1967 tour after Micky Dolenz met the guitarist at the Monterey International Pop Festival. "I suggested him because he was so theatrical," Dolenz says in A Perfect Haze: The Illustrated History of the Monterey International Pop Festival. "Um … It didn't work out." Hendrix played seven dates with the group.
•Frank Zappa made a cameo in The Monkees' 1968 movie Head and also appeared on the TV show, dressed up as Michael Nesmith.
•In 1973, Dolenz auditioned for the role of Fonzie on Happy Days. (The part eventually went to Henry Winkler.)
•Michael Nesmith won the 1981 video of the year Grammy Award— the first given — for an hour-long collection called Elephant Parts.
•Nesmith's mother, Bette, invented Liquid Paper, a paint used to mask typing errors, while working as a secretary in 1951.
