For a musician whose commercial peak came more than 50 years ago, Michael Nesmith had a rousing swan song.
The singer and guitarist for the Monkees died Friday of heart failure at his home in California. He was 78. Only weeks earlier, Nesmith was performing before thousands of adoring fans on a Monkees farewell tour that appeared to give him new strength in the final months of his life. „He started to see it (the Monkees‘ music) more through the eyes of his fans, of how they loved it. And that was bringing him a lot of joy at the end of his life,“ said Nesmith’s manager Andrew Sandoval, in an interview with Variety after his death. „Their joy was coming back on him. He finally really felt that, and it lit him up, you know?“ The Monkees — Nesmith, drummer Micky Dolenz, singer Davy Jones and keyboardist and bassist Peter Tork — were conceived in 1965 for a TV show and produced a string of hits over the next several years, including „Last Train to Clarksville“ and „I’m a Believer,“ written by Neil Diamond.
