Monkees consists of Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork.
The Monkees were a four-man musical band created to be the stars of an American television series of the same name, which ran on NBC from 1966 to 1968. The Monkees were formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California and disbanded in 1970. At their peak they were one of the most popular musical acts of their time.
Several reunions of The Monkees have taken place. The first reunion lasted from 1986 to 1989 while another regrouping took place between 1996 - 1997. The Monkees last worked together in 2001.
The television show first aired on September 12, 1966 on the NBC television network and lasted for two seasons (58 episodes); its final primetime episode ran on September 9, 1968 (see List of The Monkees episodes). Modeled on The Beatles' theatrical films A Hard Day's Night and Help!, The Monkees featured the antics and music of a fictional pop-rock group which, due to the massive success of the records, and the public's expectations, became a real pop group.
The four young men who became The Monkees were British-born David Thomas ("Davy") Jones (percussion/vocals), Hollywood native George Michael ("Micky") Dolenz (drums/vocals), Texan Robert Michael ("Mike") Nesmith (guitar/vocals), and Peter Halsten ("Peter Tork") Thorkelson (bass/keyboards/vocals), who had lived with his family in both the eastern United States and Germany.
They were cast after ads were placed in trade publications like Variety calling for "folk & roll musicians" to play "4 insane boys" on a new television series. 437 hopeful actors and musicians auditioned for the parts; a then relatively unknown Stephen Stills was shortlisted for a role, but was eventually knocked out because he didn't want to assign his music publishing rights to Columbia Pictures, with friend Peter Tork finally winning the role Stills had hoped to get. (False rumors have circulated that Charles Manson had also auditioned. He was incarcerated at the time.)
