At the age of 78: Monkees musician Nesmith dies

Cast for a TV show in the 1960s, The Monkees became world famous with songs like “I’m a believer” and “Little Bit Me, Little Bit You”. Singer and guitarist Michael Nesmith has now died at the age of 78.

The singer and guitarist of the US band The Monkees, Michael Nesmith, is dead. He died peacefully of natural causes in his house on Friday, his family told the music magazine “Rolling Stone”. Nesmith was 78 years old.

His band colleague Micky Dolenz wrote on Twitter: “I’m heartbroken.” He has lost a close friend and partner.

The Monkees consisted of Nesmith, Dolenz, lead singer Davy Jones, who died in 2012, and bassist Peter Tork, who died in 2019. The band was actually founded in 1965 as a boy band modeled on the Beatles for a television show.

Millions of albums sold

With their hits “I’m a Believer”, “Last Train to Clarksville” and “Little Bit Me, Little Bit You” they were also successful outside of television. All four were teen idols. In 1967, like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the Monkees sold millions of albums.

A few years after the end of the television series in 1968, the group initially disbanded. But the musicians performed together over the years and went on tour together again in 2011.

Involved in the forerunner of MTV

Nesmith has also worked as a book author and film director. For the science fiction film “Timerider – The Adventure of Lyle Swann” from 1982 he wrote the template and the music and worked as a producer. He also ran a media company and developed a music video format that led to the creation of MTV. Nesmith, divorced three times, leaves three sons and a daughter.