The singer and guitarist of the US cult band The Monkees Michael Nesmith is dead. His family told the music magazine that he died peacefully of natural causes in his house on Friday Rolling Stone With. Nesmith was 78 years old.
His band colleague Micky Dolenz linked a report on the death of the singer on Twitter on Friday. “I am heartbroken,” wrote Dolenz. 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 originally formed in 1965 as a boy band for a television show. 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.