"Pretty Little Princess", written in 1965, was recorded by Frankie Laine and released as a single in 1968 on ABC Records. His " Different Drum" and "Some of Shelly's Blues" were later recorded by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys in 19, respectively. Nesmith's " Mary, Mary" was recorded by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Monkees themselves on their second LP in 1967, and then reworked by rap group Run DMC in the mid 1980s. In October 1965, Nesmith's confident, care-free and laid-back manner impressed the producers and he landed the role as the wool hat-wearing guitar player "Mike" in the show, which required real-life musical talent for writing, instrument playing, singing, and performing in live concerts as part of the Monkees band. īarry Freedman told him about upcoming auditions for a new TV series called The Monkees. He followed this in 1965 with a one-off single released on Edan Records followed by two more recorded singles one was titled "The New Recruit" under the name "Michael Blessing", released on Colpix Records, coincidentally also the label of Davy Jones, though they did not meet until the Monkees formed. Nesmith began his recording career in 1963 by releasing a single on the Highness label. Randy Sparks from the New Christy Minstrels offered Nesmith a publishing deal for his songs. He served as the "Hootmaster" for the Monday night hootenanny at The Troubadour, a West Hollywood nightclub that featured new artists. Nesmith began to write more songs and poetry, then he moved to Los Angeles and began singing in folk clubs around the city. They won the first San Antonio College talent award, performing a mixture of standard folk songs and a few of Nesmith's original songs. He enrolled in San Antonio College, where he met John London and began a musical collaboration. Learning as he went, he played solo and in a series of working bands, performing folk, country, and occasionally rock and roll. Music career Īfter Nesmith's tour of duty in the Air Force, his mother and stepfather gave him a guitar for Christmas. He obtained a GED certificate and was honorably discharged in 1962. He completed basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, was trained as an aircraft mechanic at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, and was permanently stationed at Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base near Burns Flat, Oklahoma. Nesmith attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, where he participated in choral and drama activities, but enlisted in the U.S. She died a few months later at the age of 56. Over the next 25 years, she built the Liquid Paper Corporation into an international company, which she sold to Gillette in 1979 for $48 million. When Nesmith was 13, his mother invented the typewriter correction fluid later known commercially as Liquid Paper. She took temporary jobs ranging from clerical work to graphic design, eventually attaining the position of executive secretary at Texas Bank and Trust. Nesmith and his mother moved to Dallas to be closer to her family. His mother married Robert Graham in 1962, and they remained married until 1975. He was an only child his parents, Warren and Bette Nesmith (née McMurray), divorced when he was four. He was also an executive producer of the film Repo Man (1984). In 1981, he won the first Grammy Award for Video of the Year for his hour-long television show, Elephant Parts. He was asked to help produce and create MTV, but had prior commitments with his production company. He created one of the first American television programs dedicated to music videos, PopClips, which aired on Nickelodeon in 1980. Nesmith founded Pacific Arts, a multimedia production and distribution company, in 1974, through which he helped pioneer the music video format. He often played a custom-built Gretsch 12-string electric with the Monkees and afterwards. His songwriting credits include " Different Drum", which became a hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys.Īfter the break-up of the Monkees, Nesmith continued his successful songwriting and performing career, first with the seminal country rock group the First National Band, with whom he had a top-40 hit, " Joanne", and then as a solo artist. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series The Monkees (1966–1968). Robert Michael Nesmith (Decem– December 10, 2021), often known as Mike Nesmith, was an American musician, songwriter, and actor.
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