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Michael Nesmith, the singer and guitarist for the popular rock and pop band The Monkees, has died at the age of 78.
“With Infinite Love we announce that Michael Nesmith has passed away this morning in his home, surrounded by family, peacefully and of natural causes,” his family said in a statement obtained by Rolling Stone. “We ask that you respect our privacy at this time and we thank you for the love and light that all of you have shown him and us.”
The Monkees -- whose original lineup consisted of Nesmith, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork -- dominated the pop charts in the 1960s with hits including 'I'm a Believer,' 'Daydream Believer,' 'Last Train to Clarksville' and the theme song to their popular NBC television series The Monkees.
Nesmith was remembered as the Monkee in the green wool hat and credited for penning the band's hits 'Mary, Mary,' 'Circle Sky,' 'Listen to the Band' and 'The Girl I Knew Somewhere' and led the Monkees' gaining creative control of their albums from record producer Don Kirshner in 1967, leading to the release of Headquarters and other albums created on their own.
“We were kids with our own taste in music and were happier performing songs we liked – and/or wrote – than songs that were handed to us,” Nesmith said in a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone after his bandmate Jones' death. “It made for a better performance. It was more fun. That this became a bone of contention seemed strange to me, and I think to some extent to each of us — sort of “What’s the big deal, why won’t you let us play the songs we are singing?”
Nesmith recorded his first solo album, Wichita Train Whistle Sings, in 1967, prior to the Monkees' initial breakup in 1971.
The Houston native founded the short-lived First National Band in 1970 and made several appearances alongside original Monkees bandmates over the years, despite missing the band's 20th anniversary reunion.