Screen cap from YouTube clip
Here’s an interview in which Davy Jones talks about The Beatles on a variety of topics. His solid John Lennon and Paul McCartney impersonations. Playing “Penny Lane” 5,000 times. The Beatles’ similarity to The Monkees “[they] were the first manufactured group, not The Monkees… they dumped Pete [Best], they brought in Ringo, they dressed them in the same suits, the same bowl [haircut].” George being underrated as a musician. How John’s death impacted him [“same as when my father died”], and more.
Jones was born December 30, 1945, in a Manchester, U.K. suburb. After a series of television roles as a teenager, he tried out for the role of the Artful Dodger in the London production of the musical, Oliver! He reprised the role as an 18 year-old on the Broadway stage and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964 to perform a song from the production. If that date sounds familiar, well, it was the same night that The Beatles made their U.S. television debut.
He’s quoted as saying, “I watched The Beatles from the side of the stage. I saw the girls going crazy, and I said to myself, this is it, I want a piece of that.” He soon also began a recording career as a solo artist, though without much success.
Our Classic Video from 2006 is from something called The Bob Show, which dubs itself as “The Revolution of Television.”
Jones died February 29, 2012 of a heart attack at age 66.
The Monkees celebrated their 50th Anniversary in 2016. Their studio recording, Good Times!, was their first in 20 years and includes vocals from Jones. The album received great reviews and Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork did an extensive victory lap tour. Tork died in 2019.
Michael Nesmith died just four weeks after he and Dolenz completed their 2021 farewell tour.
Related: Here we come… Looking back at The Monkees’ incredible first year
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2 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationLong ago I was in a club in L.A. and I look over to the bar that I was walking past, and there he was, Davy Jones all alone, having a drink by himself. I’d had a crush on him since I was a little kid and there he was! And I froze. When I walked by from the other direction he was already gone and I never saw him again… and I’m still kicking my own ass about it.
I grew up with the Monkees and thought I was a mini-Davy Jones!