The Monkees singer Davy Jones has died at the age of 66. A rep for Jones revealed that he passed away Wednesday morning after suffering a heart attack.
Jones was born in Manchester, England and started acting as a child. In 1964 he had the misfortune of appearing in the cast of Oliver! on the same episode where the Beatles made their debut.
As part of the cast for the NBC sitcom “The Monkees,” Jones joined the band with Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork in 1966. The group’s single “I’m A Believer” was the top charting track of 1967. Over the course of its career, the band collected an array of accolades, including two Emmy awards and a number of Billboard hit singles and albums. At the peak of their popularity they sold more albums than the Beatles.
Jones returned to acting in the late 1970s when his solo career failed to take off, but he found it difficult to escape the shadow of the Monkees. By the mid-1980s Monkee mania was reborn when MTV and other stations began regularly airing old episodes of the tv show. The band – minus Mike Nesmith – reunited for a highly successful reunion tour in 1986. They toured off and on through 2001 when infighting led to another split. Last summer they patched things up for a 45h anniversary tour, though it was called short.
The singer is survived by his wife Jessica and four daughters from previous marriages.
