Davy Jones, best known as being a member of The Monkees, passed away yesterday. He was 66. The singer, who starred on the popular 60s series The Monkees, complained of chest pains following a concert on Tuesday evening. It was confirmed that he died from a heart attack.
While many young people have never seen The Monkees TV series, they more than likely have seen and heard of Davy Jones before thanks to The Brady Bunch. Jones appeared in the aptly titled, “Getting Davy Jones” during the series’ third season that features Marcia Brady (Maureen McCormick) desperately trying to get Jones to play at her school after she lied to her classmates about already booking him.
Jones would return to the Brady universe on the big screen with a cameo appearance in 1995’s The Brady Bunch Movie where he winds up singing at Marcia’s school dance. Jones also appeared in cameo with fellow Monkees Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork.
Jones was a singer-songwriter and actor who was born in England in 1945. He learned music and theater at a young age and was cast in a London production of Oliver! when he was 14. Coincidentally, the cast of Oliver! appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show the same night The Beatles made their first appearance on the popular variety show.
The Sullivan appearance led to Jones signing a contract with Screen Gems and appearances on several series produced by the company. In 1966, a new TV show called The Monkees debuted on NBC and ran for two seasons. The band, which was formed in order to create the TV series, became an entity unto itself and had a number of hit songs including: “The Monkees,” “Last Train to Clarksville,” “Daydream Believer,” “I’m a Believer,” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone.”
Despite his passing, Jones and his legacy will forever remain a part of pop culture and his music and image will not soon fade away.
He will be missed.