WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Davy Jones, the heartthrob singer who helped propel the made-for-TV rock band the Monkees to the top of the pop charts as an American version of the Beatles, died Wednesday. He was 66.
His publicist, Helen Kensick, confirmed Jones died of a heart attack in Indiantown, where he had lived. Jones complained of breathing troubles early in the morning and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said Rhonda Irons of the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s spokeswoman said there were no suspicious circumstances.
Born in Manchester, England, Jones had stylishly long hair, boyish good looks and a British accent that endeared him to legions of screaming young fans after “The Monkees” premiered on CBS in 1966.
Aspirations of Beatles-like fame were never fully achieved, however, as the TV show lasted just two years. But the Monkees made rock ‘n’ roll history as the band galvanized a wide American following with love-struck hits such as “Daydream Believer” and “I’m a Believer” that endure even today.
Jones was born Dec. 30, 1945, and became a child star in his native England who appeared on television and stage, including a heralded role as the Artful Dodger in the play “Oliver.”
He earned a Tony nomination at 16 when he reprised that role in the show’s Broadway production, a success that brought him to the attention of Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems Television, which created “The Monkees.”
The show, clearly patterned on the Beatles’ film “A Hard Day’s Night,” chronicled the comic trials and tribulations of a rock group whose four members lived together and traveled to gigs in a tricked-out car called the Monkeemobile. Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz starred with him. Each part was loosely patterned after one of the Beatles, with Jones in the Paul McCartney role for “The Monkees.”
The first single, “Last Train to Clarksville,” became a No. 1 hit. And the show caught on with audiences, featuring fast-paced, helter-skelter comedy inspired as much by the Marx Brothers as the Beatles.
It was a shrewd case of cross-platform promotion. As David Bianculli noted in his “Dictionary of Teleliteracy,” “The show’s self-contained music videos, clear forerunners of MTV, propelled the group’s first seven singles to enviable positions on the pop charts: three number ones, two number twos, two number threes.”
At 5 feet 3 inches tall, Jones was by far the shortest member of the group — a fact often made light of on the show. But with his youthful good looks, he was also the group’s heartthrob. And with the pronounced accent that he never lost, Jones was in some ways the Monkees’ direct connection to Beatlemania, which was still sweeping the United States when the television show “The Monkees” debuted.
Jones, who is survived by his wife, Jessica, continued to make appearances on television and stage later.
