It is with great sadness we learn today (Wednesday, February 29) that former Monkee front man Davey Jones has died of a heart attack.  He was 66.

I was lucky to meet Davey Jones in Charleston, West Virginia back in 1979.  At the time he was making a brief appearance at a disco nightclub.  After his segment, Davey came to my table and sat with me for the rest of the evening as we exchanged stories of our lives back in England, his days with the Monkees and his plans for the future.  We swapped phone numbers, but as often happens, we both moved around the country and never followed through on our plans to get together again.

 

Besides our British heritage, the one thing we both had in common was our appearance in the musical Oliver!  I had the opportunity of playing Oliver in 1967.  Davey had appeared in the show back in 1964 as the Artful Dodger.  We swapped a few behind the scenes stories, though, to be honest, his stories were far more interesting than mine for one simple reason; he was also in the Broadway production, plus he appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show performing a scene from the musical on the same night The Beatles made their first appearance on American TV.

Davey said he was fascinated with The Beatles because of the reaction from the fans in the TV studio. After watching how the girls went crazy for the Fab Four he said, “This is it.  I want a piece of that.”  After that, his interest in show business was centered on being a part of a pop/rock band, which came into being the following year.

 

Between 1965 and 1971 Davey Jones was a Monkee.  Once the TV show completed its run, the group disbanded, though he remained friends with his fellow band members and even toured with Mickey Dolenz and various other incarnations of The Monkees.

 

Davey Jones made some film appearances, including the controversial 1968 Monkees movie, Head, with an eclectic cast of Hollywood actors, including Annette Funicello, Frank Zappa, Sonny Liston, Dennis Hopper and Terri Garr, plus the 1995 Brady Bunch Movie where he played himself.

 

Davey’s publicist, Deborah Robicheau, announced this morning that Davey had suffered a massive heart attack in his sleep.  He is survived by his widow, Jessica and four daughters.

 

David Thomas Jones – 12/30/45 – 2/29/12