Monkees Singer Peter Tork Dies At 77

 Monkees Singer Peter Tork Dies At 77 After Being Diagnosed With Rare Tongue Cancer 10 Years Ago

By LEAH SIMPSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6730277/Monkees-singer-Peter-Tork-dies-age-77-diagnosed-rare-tongue-cancer-10-years-ago.html

PUBLISHED: 11:21 EST, 21 February 2019

UPDATED: 12:54 EST, 21 February 2019

·         The Monkees singer Peter Tork died Thursday at the age of 77

·         His sister Anne Thorkelson confirmed the news but not the cause of death

·         Tork was diagnosed with rare cancer adenoid cystic carcinoma in 2009 but his regular check-ups showed he was clear in 2012

·         He survived by his fourth wife Pam Tork as well as children Ivan Joseph Iannoli, Hallie Luia Tork, Erica Marie Tork

·         Davy Jones, the group's lone Brit, died of a heart attack in 2012 at 66 as they prepared for a reunion tour

·         Same year Tork told Daily Mail 'I'm an alcoholic' who was '34 years clean'. 'Once I pick up the first drink, something gets triggered and I have no resistance'

Monkees bassist-and-singer Peter Tork died Thursday at the age of 77, his sister Anne Thorkelson has confirmed.

Tork's sibling did not clarify the suspected cause of his death but in 2009 the musician was diagnosed with a rare cancer that affected his tongue.

'It is with beyond-heavy and broken hearts that we share the devastating news that our friend, mentor, teacher, and amazing soul, Peter Tork, has passed from this world,' a post on his official Facebook page read.

He celebrated his birthday last Wednesday and survived by his fourth wife Pam Tork as well as children Ivan Joseph Iannoli, Hallie Luia Tork, Erica Marie Tork.

Pam was there to support Peter six years ago when he battled adenoid cystic carcinoma – a rare cancer that occurs in the head and neck.

His regular check-ups showed he was clear in 2012 and they married in 2013.

'When I heard I had this cancer, I had a bloody good cry, and then it was a case of, "Right what do I do now?"' he previously told Daily Mail. 'They performed the surgery and I couldn't talk for about a day or two, but Pam came with me to hold my hand.'

David 'Davy' Jones, the group's lone Brit, died of a heart attack in 2012 at 66 as they prepared for a reunion tour.

The same year Tork admitted he was an alcoholic.

He told Daily Mail: 'I'm an alcoholic, and that means once I pick up the first drink, something gets triggered and I have no resistance, so the answer is to not drink at all. I'm 34 years clean and dry now. I was awful when I was drinking, snarling at people.'

Tork was the oldest member of the group in 1966 when their NBC show The Monkees first aired, the 24-year-old helped spark Monkeesmania with an offshoot of merchandise, top-selling music and tour tickets from the TV hit.

Although it only ran for two seasons, the Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider-produced program won an Emmy for outstanding comedy.  

As well as playing bass for the four-piece - also made up of Jones, Mickey Dolenz, and Mike Nesmith - Tork sang lead on some of the band's tracks including Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again.

He penned the tune for the four-piece's 1968 movie, Head, which features cameos from the likes of Dennis Hopper, Frank Zappa and Jack Nicholson who wrote the film allegedly while tripping on LSD.

The Daydream Believer hitmakers surged in popularity past the likes of the Beatles and Rolling Stones in 1967 with their album selling 35 million copies, a round double that of their rivals combined.

Titled Monkees, the LP featuring hits such as I'm a Believer and Last Train to Clarksville, resulted in several no. 1 singles for the group.

While trained musician Tork also played keyboards in the group, the Washington DC man was said to be 'mortified' when he joined and realized they would not actually play their instruments.

The manufactured band had tunes written by the likes of Carole King, Neil Diamond and Jeff Barry when they first emerged on the music scene and had used session musicians for their debut release before Tork had even signed up.

The men had answered an advert for 'four insane boys aged 17 to 21' to star in a new TV series.

The show became an instant success with fans including singer-songwriter Tom Petty and John Lennon, who nicknamed the Monkees 'the Marx Brothers of rock'.

They would go on to have Jimi Hendrix as a tour support act. But it wasn't enough for Tork who longed to be taken seriously as a musician.

After the release of their second album More of the Monkees in 1967, the men fought for more songwriting and performance control and their third release Headquarters was a reflection of their chops.

By 1969 Tork had left the Monkees and his venture into a new group called Release proved unsuccessful in 1970. The Monkees split.

Dolenz told Daily Mail: 'When it came to Daydream Believer, which was really Davy's song, we told the audience, "We can't sing this song any more – it belongs to you now," and they sang it instead.'

Reunion tours in 1997 and 2001 reportedly dissolved into bickering, but there was no real animosity. 'There were moments of tension,' admitted Peter. 'But the Monkees never promised to stay together. People forget we started out as the cast of a TV show.'

Trained musicians Tork and Dolenz were cast as the members of a rock band who found themselves in one crazy adventure after another as they struggled to make it big.

In 2012 Tork admitted they smoked substances strong than cigarettes during their height of fame.

Tork found himself in trouble when he was arrested for possession of hashish and spent three months in prison in 1972.

'Well, we were young adults in the ‘60s so there may have been a quick toke before we read our lines, but we couldn't do our job properly if we were wasted on drugs, so we did work really hard,' he confessed.

When Tork, Jones and Dolenz toured the US in 2001, Tork quit early, unable, he said, to put up with 'the drinking and difficult behavior offstage'.

'The truth,' Peter said in 2012, 'is that I'm still confused about my own behavior then and I'm not sure that I had all my own faculties at the time, sober or not. The drinking itself was not an issue and if it were, I would not have rejoined them.'

And he'd always found the fame hard to handle. 'I gave a lot of my money away when I was younger – just left it in bowls around the house and people would help themselves to handfuls of it,' he said.

'I wasn't thinking too clearly at the time and it might have been my low self-esteem, thinking that I didn't deserve to keep the money, but it wasn't really that bright, was it?' he laughs. 'I mean, there's nothing wrong with giving money away to people, but give it where you can do some good.'

Davy Jones

Monkees Front Man Davy Jones Dead At 66
Feb. 29, 2012, 4:19 PM EST
WENN

The Monkees' front man, Davy Jones, has died at the age of 66. His death was confirmed to People by the medical examiner in Martin County, Fla. The news was first reported by TMZ.

The "Daydream Believer" singer passed away at Martin Memorial Hospital in Florida on Wednesday after suffering a heart attack, according to TMZ.

The Britain-born star began his career as a child actor on the long-running U.K. soap opera "Coronation Street" before finding fame in the 1960s as a member of the Monkees, a group formed to star in a TV series of the same name.

The band split in 1971, and Jones went on to established himself as a solo star. He also joined forces with fellow Monkee Micky Dolenz to form their own group, Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart, with songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart.

The Monkees reunited for a troubled tour in 2001. Another reunion, for their 45th anniversary trek last year, also ended abruptly when they canceled the second half of the tour without explanation.

Jones last hit the stage on Feb. 19 for a solo show in Oklahoma.

URL - http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=707905

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Former Monkee Davy Jones Dies At Age 66 In Florida

(Reuters) - Davy Jones, former lead singer of the 1960s made-for-television pop band The Monkees, died on Wednesday after suffering a heart attack in Florida, according to his longtime publicist. He was 66.

Jones' death was confirmed by Christine Weekes, administrative manager for the medical examiner's office in Fort Pierce, Florida, near the Martin Memorial Hospital South where the performer had been taken.

His publicist, Helen Kensick, said Jones died of a heart attack in Indiantown, Florida, but she had no further details.

Jones, born in Manchester, England, became the principal teen idol of the rock quartet featured on the NBC comedy series "The Monkees," which was inspired in part by the Beatles film "A Hard Day's Night" and ran for two seasons from the fall of 1966 to August of 1968.

Although not allowed to play their own instruments on their early records, Jones and his three cohorts -- Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork -- had several hits that sold millions of copies, including "Last Train to Clarksville" and "I'm a Believer."

Jones got his start as a young actor, at the age of 11, on the British soap opera "Coronation Street" before landing a role as the Artful Dodger in a West End production of "Oliver!" He went on to originate that role for the Broadway production and earned a Tony nomination.

But Jones gained stardom after answering a casting call for a new TV series being created about the zany misadventures of four Beatles-like rock musicians called the Monkees. Two members of the group, Nesmith and Tork, were actual musicians with performing and recording experience, while Jones and Dolenz were primarily actors who more or less dabbled in music.

Although disparaged by critics as the "Pre-Fab Four" for the manufactured way in which the band came together, the group proved to be adept performers who were eventually given control over their own recordings.

The TV series, introduced by its catchy theme, "Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees," debuted as an immediate ratings hit weeks after the group's first single, "Last Train to Clarksville," had topped the pop charts.

The group collaborated early on with some of the major songwriters and session musicians of the day, including Neil Diamond, Carole King, Glen Campbell and Hal Blaine.

The self-titled first LP topped the album charts that October, and the popularity of the group generated a wave of merchandising, including toys, games and lunchboxes. But their first and only feature film, "Head," was a box-office flop.

After their fifth album, the group began to splinter, releasing two more albums as a trio without Tork and one last LP as a duo following Nesmith's exit in 1969.

(Additional reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy and Christine Kearney; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Greg McCune)

URL - http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/29/us-davyjones-idUSTRE81S1T520120229