DAVY JONES 1945-2012

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Davy Jones, 66, the leading heartthrob of the much-loved pre-fab 1960s rock band the Monkees, who sang many of the made-for-TV act's biggest hits, including "Daydream Believer," died Wednesday in Florida.

Mr. Jones died of a massive heart attack in Indiantown, Fla., where he lived, his publicist Helen Kensick said. Detectives with the Martin County Sheriff's Criminal Investigations Division were conducting a death investigation, but said foul play was not suspected.

In recent years, Mr. Jones also had owned a farm in Beavertown, Pa., north of Harrisburg, where he raised horses.

Raised in Manchester, England, Mr. Jones was a former racehorse jockey, as well as a child actor who performed in such musicals as Oliver! in both the West End of London and on Broadway. In 1965, he was one of 500 applicants to join the Monkees, put together by producers Bob Rafelson and Bob Schneider, with musical direction by industry insider Don Kirschner, for an NBC TV show aimed at taking advantage of the popularity of the Beatles.

The behind-the-scenes TV show with the make-believe band was modeled after Beatles movies such as A Hard Day's Night and Help! The show was an instant hit, and though it aired for only two seasons, it was perpetually in reruns throughout the '70s and appeared on MTV in the '80s.

That was appropriate, since The Monkees was in many ways a forerunner of the cable music channel, with its music videos and weekly prime-time broadcast serving up a cycle of self-promotion that was ahead of its time. As David Bianculli noted in his Dictionary of Teleliteracy, "The show's self-contained music videos, clear forerunners of MTV, propelled the group's first seven singles to enviable positions on the pop charts: three number ones, two number twos, two number threes."   

The band's first single, "Last Train to Clarksville," became a No. 1 hit, and the show caught on with audiences, featuring fast-paced, helter-skelter comedy inspired as much by the Marx Brothers as the Beatles.

Initially the Monkees - whose other members were Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz - weren't allowed to play their own instruments, but their material was top-notch. Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote "Pleasant Valley Sunday," Neil Diamond penned "I'm a Believer," and the Kingston Trio's John Stewart wrote "Daydream Believer." A who's who of studio musicians played on their records including Billy Preston (before he played with the Beatles), Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, Ry Cooder, and Neil Young.

The Monkees were the first and arguably the best of the "fake" rock-era pop bands like the Partridge Family, the Archies, and Josie & the Pussycats (the latter two animated), all of which exceeded musical expectations, in part because of the talent of their behind-the-scenes creators.

Andy Kim, who wrote "Sugar Sugar" for the Archies, said Wednesday that Mr. Jones "was a phenomenal ambassador for a band that didn't really start off a band but quickly became a force. The girls thought Davy's sex appeal [mirrored] Paul McCartney's . . . in the Beatles."

After two seasons, the Monkees' TV series flared out, and it was canceled in the summer of 1968. But the band remained a nostalgia act for decades, ensconced in the American musical imagination.

According to the Monkees website Monkees.com, Mr. Jones left the band in late 1970. In the summer of 1971, he recorded a solo hit, "Rainy Jane," and made appearances on American TV shows. Mr. Jones played himself in a 1971 Brady Bunch episode in which Marcia Brady, president of her school's Davy Jones fan club, promised she could get him to sing at a school dance.

Amid lingering nostalgia for the Monkees, Mr. Jones teamed up in the mid-1980s with Tork and Dolenz and promoter David Fishof for a reunion tour. Their popularity prompted the MTV retelecast of The Monkees series, introducing the group to a new audience.

In 1987, Mr. Jones, Tork, and Dolenz recorded a new album, Pool It. Two years later, the group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the late '90s, the group filmed the special Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees.

Mr. Jones is survived by his wife, Jessica, and four children from two previous marriages.  

See a Monkees video at Dan DeLuca's blog, "In the Mix," at www.philly.com/inthemix EndText