Italian postcard by Silvercart, Milano, no. 542/6. The Monkees, with Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and at right, with the wool hat, Michael Nesmith.
West-German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 2926. Photo: Teldec / RCA Victor. Second from right, Michael Nesmith.
The wool hat guy
Robert Michael Nesmith was born in Houston, Texas, in 1942. He was an only child; his parents Warren and Bette Nesmith (née McMurray) divorced when he was four. Nesmith and his mother moved to Dallas to be closer to her family. She took temporary jobs ranging from clerical work to graphic design, eventually attaining the position of executive secretary at Texas Bank and Trust.
When Nesmith was 13, his mother invented the typewriter correction fluid known commercially as Liquid Paper or Tipp-ex. Over the next 25 years, she built the Liquid Paper Corporation into a multimillion-dollar international company, which she sold to Gillette in 1979 for $48 million. She died a few months later at age 56 and Michael inherited half of her fortune.
Michael started acting in school and began making music as a soloist and band member after his military service. In 1963, Nesmith moved with his first wife Phyllis Ann Barbour and his colleague John London to Los Angeles, where he performed in folk clubs and had a regular show at The Troubadour. He also recorded three solo singles, one of which, 'The New Recruit', was recorded under the name Michael Blessing.
In 1965, Nesmith auditioned for The Monkees, the TV series about the band he formed with Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Peter Tork, the only other experienced musician. He rode his motorcycle to the audition, and wore a wool hat to keep his hair out of his eyes; producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider remembered the 'wool hat guy', and called Nesmith back.
Once he was cast, Screen Gems bought his songs so they could be used in the show. Many of the songs Nesmith wrote for The Monkees, such as 'The Girl I Knew Somewhere', 'Mary, Mary', and 'Listen to the Band', became minor hits. The series featured many of his songs, two of which ended up on each record. This was to compensate for the fact that the first records were recorded by studio musicians, including John London.
Nesmith played the role of the big wise brother. The Monkees also starred in the satirical film Head (Bob Rafelson, 1968), written and produced by Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson. It was not a commercial success. The band members were not happy with their imposed image; especially Nesmith did not hide his opinion. Peter Tork left at the end of 1968 after filming a TV special, and a year and a half later Nesmith, in a toy commercial, hinted that he, too, had had enough.
Dutch postcard by Uitg. en druk. 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6804.
German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. AX 6814.
One of the pioneers of country-rock
Michael Nesmith had his contract for The Monkees, which was valid until 1973, terminated. It meant a financial setback because, just like Peter Tork, he had to pay a lump sum of one and a half tons; money that none of the band members had at their disposal. It was not until ten years later that he got out of debt again when his mother left him 25 million dollars.
Another reason why Nesmith wanted to get out of his contract was that he had already started his own band and was about to sign a contract with RCA Records. With The First National Band, further consisting of John London, John Ware, and Orville 'Red' Rhodes, Nesmith was one of the pioneers of country-rock. The band had a short but productive life; three albums in less than a year with mainly songs that Nesmith had collected or tried out during his Monkees period. 'Joanne' and 'Silver Moon' were some of their modest hits.
However, Nesmith was not taken seriously by country fans, which is why he moved to the United Kingdom to perform during the Joanne period. During the recording of the third album - released in early 1971 - The First National Band broke up for reasons that are unclear. Nesmith and Rhodes then formed The Second National Band. In 1972, the album 'Tantamount to Treason Vol. 1' was released, featuring Puerto Rican singer-songwriter José Feliciano as a percussionist. Rumours of a Vol. 2 were denied by Nesmith, and after The Second National Band fell apart he decided to continue under his own name. Rhodes remained his regular guitarist until his death in 1995.
In addition to his solo career, Michael Nesmith also became a songwriter and producer for others and started the multimedia company Pacific Arts. With 'Rio' from 1977, Nesmith scored his biggest hit after leaving The Monkees. The accompanying video clip led him to develop a concept for 24-hour music television in the form of 6 half-hour shows called Pop Clips. Time-Warner aired Pop Clips on Nickelodeon Channel for testing and it was an instant hit. This was the predecessor of MTV.
Nesmith moved on to other projects after the testing phase as he did not wish to be involved in managing a television network. Furthermore, Pacific Arts was responsible for the clips of Lionel Richie's 'All Night Long' and Michael Jackson's 'Smooth Criminal.' The company also produced films such as Repo Man (Alex Cox, 1984) and Tapeheads (Bill Fishman, 1988) in which Nesmith played guest roles. Later, Pacific Arts was discredited due to a dispute over violated video licensing rights and non-payment for various series. A court case followed which was only decided in Nesmith's favour on 3 February 1999.
German postcard by Filmbilder-Vertrieb Ernst Freihoff, Essen, no. 108.
French postcard by PSG, no. 1404.
The Return of The Monkees
As early as 1975, attempts were made to reunite The Monkees after reruns of the TV series. Nesmith was not interested at the time, unlike Dolenz and Jones who subsequently released an album with songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. Eleven years later, Nesmith was open to a reunion, but due to his busy schedule, he had to skip the extensive tour. He did appear as a guest during the encore in Los Angeles on 7 September 1986 and at the unveiling of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989.
In 1995, Michael Nesmith returned to the band full-time. He co-wrote the album 'Justus' that was released a year later and wrote/produced the TV special Hey Hey, It's the Monkees for the 30th anniversary. An English tour in 1997 was the last time all four group members performed together. After that, Nesmith retired again to work on a script for a second Monkees film, and on a book; only the latter was realised and initially only available online.
In 2006, he released his last album, 'Rays', and in 2011 he collaborated with blues singer Carolyn Wonderland. After Jones' death, Nesmith returned to the Monkees for the 2012, 2013, and 2014 US tours. He brought along son Christian as one of seven accompanying musicians and also performed solo in between. On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary in 2016, the album 'Good Times' was released with mainly previously unreleased songs. During that year's tour, Nesmith had a limited presence; at two separate encores, the first of which was via Skype, twice as a substitute for Tork, who had to withdraw due to family circumstances, and once at the concert of 16 September 2016.
His third book was published in 2017. In 2018, Nesmith went on tour again with a new line-up of the First National Band. He also performed duo concerts with Micky Dolenz in the summer under the name The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show. In June, Nesmith underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery. The last four concerts were cancelled and made up during the 2019 tour. In addition, Nesmith gave solo concerts featuring many songs from his 1972 album 'And the Hits Just Keep on Comin'. He was accompanied by pedal steel guitarist Pete Finey, and singer-songwriters Ben Gibbard and Scott McCaughey also performed during the first night in Seattle.
Michael Nesmith died in December 2021 at the age of 78 at his home in Carmel Valley Village.
American postcard by Ludlow Sales, New York, N.Y., no. FC-250-50.
Vintage postcard.
Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch and English) and IMDb.