Posted on 02/21/2019 8:32:11 AM PST by Red Badger
Peter Tork, a blues and folk musician who became a teeny-bopper sensation as a member of the Monkees, the wisecracking, made-for-TV pop group that imitated and briefly outsold the Beatles, died Feb. 21. He was 77.
His death was confirmed by his sister Anne Thorkelson, who did not say where or how he died. Mr. Tork was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare cancer affecting his tongue, in 2009.
If the Monkees were a manufactured version of the Beatles, a “prefab four” who auditioned for a rock-and-roll sitcom and were selected more for their long-haired good looks than their musical abilities, Mr. Tork was the group’s Ringo, its lovably goofy supporting player.
On television, he performed as the self-described “dummy” of the group, drawing on a persona he developed while working as a folk musician in Greenwich Village, where he flashed a confused smile whenever his stage banter fell flat. Off-screen, he embraced the Summer of Love, donning moccasins and “love beads” and declaring that “nonverbal, extrasensory communication is at hand” and that “dogmatism is leaving the scene.”
A versatile multi-instrumentalist, Mr. Tork mostly played bass and keyboard for the Monkees, in addition to singing lead on tracks including “Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again,” which he wrote for the group’s psychedelic 1968 movie, “Head,” and “Your Auntie Grizelda.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The Spin was that Tork didn’t know how to play in instrument when he joined the band. That was the official Tiger Beat version.
I bought a light blue Nehru jacket in Los Angeles and flew back to Texas wearing it and carrying my guitar case.
People looked at me as if I were a celebrity they couldn’t quite place, or just a weirdo. Not sure which.
I always loved the Monkeys! I also used to watch their goofy TV show.
I remember back in the 7th grade, we used call anyone goofy, “Tork”. We would call out, “Hey, Tork”.
I had forgotten that, thanks!
I think Neil Diamond wrote a couple of songs as well. I got to see the Monkees live in Fairfax, Virginia about 15 years ago. I remember Peter Tork during the intermission playing Bach’s Invention #8 on the keyboard before the second half.
That was a fun concert. The Moms along with their daughters were still shrieking when Davy Jones ran out to the crowd.
Better than Markey Nark and the Funky Bunch????
Marcia Brady thought he was really groovy.
200 Motels......................
Only two Beatles and Two Monkees left.
They should get together and form a band........the Beetles......
I had always heard that Tork and Nesmith were actually musicians before the Monkees and Jones and Dolenz were purely actors. Which is ironic in that Micky Dolenz was the one Monkee who actually appears on most of their records as lead singer. He actually had one of the great pop voices of the 60s.
Interesting factoid about Zappa. Frank died a lifetime member of the NRA. Mark Farner was an avid shooter and during a break during GFR recording sessions Frank was producing Mark took him outside to do some plinking with his 44 mag pistol. They ended up shooting for the rest of the day and Frank was hooked.
I saw them in concert in the mid to late 90’s. In the article it said that Nesmith would not do a lot of touring with them until Davey died in 2012 but I seem to remember that Nesmith was there as well. They were good but they had a number of other musicians with them. I think I read somewhere that Mickey learned to play drums for the show, he never was a musician. Only Nesmith and Tork were musicians.
RIP.
RIP
Wow, bummer. Another character of my childhood and a vanished America passes on. RIP Peter Tork.
Me too. Monday nights, 8pm on NBC.
Nesmith came to town a couple of years ago playing a solo show of his own material.
I was shocked because it was being promoted by Kirshner Concerts. Reportedly Nesmith had once threatened to put Don Kirshner’s face through a wall at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
His kids must be a forgiving lot.
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