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Peter Tork, Dead at 77

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Peter Tork, Court Jester of the Monkees, Is Dead at 77

The Monkees in a scene from their television show, from left: Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork. The Monkees were an unabashedly manufactured band, and Mr. Tork was positioned as the goofy one.CreditBettmann/Getty Imagesmerlin_150997746_8db226cb-c7e2-48b1-b126
The Monkees in a scene from their television show, from left: Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork. The Monkees were an unabashedly manufactured band, and Mr. Tork was positioned as the goofy one.CreditCreditBettmann/Getty Images
  • Feb. 21, 2019

Peter Tork, a struggling musician who became an overnight teenage idol in the 1960s with the Monkees, died on Thursday at a family home in eastern Connecticut. He was 77.

His son, Ivan Iannoli, said the cause was complications from a rare form of cancer that was first diagnosed in 2009. Mr. Tork, who grew up in Connecticut, lived in Mansfield, east of Hartford, according to The Hartford Courant.

The Monkees were an unabashedly manufactured band, created by Hollywood producers in the 1960s to capitalize on the astounding popularity of the Beatles. The members — Mr. Tork (the oldest, at 24), Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith — were cast as the stars of an NBC sitcom, “The Monkees” (1966-68), in which they performed and dealt with comic situations with a childlike irreverence, much as the Beatles had in their hit films “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help!”

The Monkees during the height of their popularity in the 1960s: from left, Mr. Nesmith, Mr. Tork, Mr. Jones and Mr. Dolenz. Among their hits were “Last Train to Clarksville,” “Daydream Believer” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”Creditvia Reutersmerlin_54737324_38cb4481-27da-4fd4-9da1-
The Monkees during the height of their popularity in the 1960s: from left, Mr. Nesmith, Mr. Tork, Mr. Jones and Mr. Dolenz. Among their hits were “Last Train to Clarksville,” “Daydream Believer” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”Creditvia Reuters

Mr. Tork was positioned as the goofy one, the court jester. The director Bob Rafelson, one of the show’s creators, compared him to Harpo Marx.

Because they were created for television, did not write their own songs (that was left to professionals like Gerry Goffin, Carole King and others) and did not play their own instruments (they mimed playing on camera), the Monkees were disdained by many; if the Beatles were the Fab Four, the Monkees quickly earned the derisive nickname the Prefab Four.

But they surprised many in the music industry, and perhaps themselves as well, when they became popular both on television and on the charts.

Their show won the Emmy Award for outstanding comedy series in 1967, and the band’s many hit records — including “Last Train to Clarksville,” “Daydream Believer,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday” and the infectious if simplistic “(Theme From) The Monkees” (“Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees / And people say we Monkee around … ”) — for a while earned them sales on the same stratospheric level as the Beatles’.

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Both Mr. Tork and Mr. Nesmith were accomplished musicians — Mr. Tork played several instruments — and Mr. Dolenz and Mr. Jones were seasoned singers. (As a child, Mr. Jones had played the Artful Dodger in “Oliver!” on Broadway.) But because studio musicians did the playing on the first two Monkees albums, the notion that they were not a real band persisted.

That began to change in 1967, when the group released what came to be considered its signature album, “Headquarters,” on which they played most of the instruments themselves and wrote several of the songs. Mr. Tork co-wrote some of them, and he shared lead vocals with Mr. Jones on the wistful ballad “Shades of Gray.”

(Peter Tork vocals were a rarity on Monkees albums — he was by far the group’s weakest singer — but he had some memorable ones, often laced with humor, beginning with “Your Auntie Grizelda” on the band’s second album, “More of the Monkees.”)

 
"Your Auntie Grizelda"CreditCreditVideo by Paulo Silva

The Monkees recorded for only three years before disbanding; their popularity faded after their TV show was canceled, and Mr. Tork left the band in 1969.

But the group enjoyed a revival in the 1980s and reunited for numerous concerts and tours, although usually without Mr. Nesmith.

Mr. Tork recorded his first solo album, “Stranger Things Have Happened,” in 1994. He later formed a blues band, Shoe Suede Blues, with which he continued to perform and record until recently. The band’s latest album, “Relax Your Mind,” was released last year.

“The blues is about community,” Mr. Tork told The Courant, explaining his genre switch. “Not about how lonely I am, but everybody’s been lonely.”

Peter Halsten Thorkelson was born on Feb. 13, 1942, in Washington, the son of Halsten John Thorkelson, an economics professor, and Virginia Hope (Straus) Thorkelson. The family moved to Connecticut, where Peter graduated from high school in Storrs. He attended Carleton College in Minnesota, but left before graduating and moved to New York, where he performed in folk clubs in Greenwich Village and met another up-and-coming musician, Stephen Stills.

In California, where both had relocated, Mr. Stills tried out for the Monkees. When that didn’t work out — some sources say Mr. Stills was rejected because he had bad teeth; Mr. Stills himself said that he rejected the job because he wanted to write songs for the show but that would have meant surrendering his music publishing — he recommended Mr. Tork, because people had always told the two that they looked alike.

Mr. Tork left show business shortly after leaving the Monkees and at one point taught high school in Santa Monica, Calif. There were financial problems, and personal ones as well; he dealt with alcoholism and drug abuse, and served a short prison sentence for hashish possession in 1972.

Mr. Dolenz, left, and Mr. Tork with the Monkees at Town Hall in New York in 2016.
Reprinted from the New York Times - February 21, 2019

 

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Handyman

I wasn't overkeen on the Monkees.  Manufactured, I don't believe they played the instruments on many of their songs.  Micky Dolenz was a child actor as was Davy Jones in the UK.  Made popular by the tv series, a couple of catchy songs that I doubt very much they had anything to do with the production of.  I was more surprised when Davy Jones passed away at 66, rather than Peter Tork at 77.

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dicey eye
On 2/22/2019 at 4:39 PM, dicey eye said:

Mr. Tork left show business shortly after leaving the Monkees and at one point taught high school in Santa Monica, Calif. There were financial problems, and personal ones as well; he dealt with alcoholism and drug abuse, and served a short prison sentence for hashish possession in 1972. 

The groups fleeting success and Mr. Tork's rapid decline showed the transitory nature of fame. One minute on top of the world, the next minute in the slammer.

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dicey eye
On 2/23/2019 at 7:55 AM, Handyman said:

I wasn't overkeen on the Monkees.

I wasn't a Monkees fan either; or a Stones fan or a Beatles fan.

My Pantheon of rockers are: James Brown, Chuck Berry, Eric Burdon, Stevie Wonder and Elvis (naturally). In June 24th, 1972 attended a Stones concert at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Stevie Wonder was the opening act. He blew the Stones out of the water.

Edited by dicey eye
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Bill H

Oh boy, here I am the outlier again.  I liked the Monkeys!  Micky Dolenz (former Circus Boy) was my favorite, probably because I was such a big fan of Circus Boy.  The boys were far better musicians than they were given credit for and the show broke new ground.  Peter Tork was another favorite.  Mike Nesmith's mother invented "liquid paper," which netted her family a fortune.  No longer needing an income lead to Mike's departure from the group and was very involved in other projects including developing what became MTV.  Great guys, great songs, great memories...for me anyway.

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Handyman

I'm not sure many would remember "Circus boy" ?  It finished 51 years ago!!  However, I think it's fair to say they were good entertainment value with their tv show.  I don't disagree that they made some catchy songs, and over time I would imagine they improved on the instrument front.  If we all liked the same things, well, life would be a bit of a bore.

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