You probably know him as a Monkee, but he was a pretty fair songwriter. His “Different Drum” helped rocket Linda Ronstadt to fame.
Mickey Dolenz, the last living Monkee, Tweeted for all of us:
I’m heartbroken.
I’ve lost a dear friend and partner.
I’m so grateful that we could spend the last couple of months together doing what we loved best – singing, laughing, and doing shtick.
I’ll miss it all so much. Especially the shtick.
Rest in peace, Nez.
All my love,
Micky pic.twitter.com/xe8i5jmNgL— Micky Dolenz (@TheMickyDolenz1) December 10, 2021
His mother invented Liquid Paper and sold it to Gillette for $48 million…back in 1979
I was a kid when the Monkees had their 15 minutes in the spotlight, so I was the right age to enjoy them. Nesmith was the one I liked best. Also, this bit from some video project of his in the early 80’s always stuck in my mind:
He had a cool segment with Zappa on The Monkees. Zappa asks Nesmith if he can be “Mike Nesmith”? Mike agrees but only on the condition that he can be Zappa. In bad disguises the interview continues. A later segment shows Zappa “playing” a car by beating it into submission. That was 1968 in a nutshell.