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Michael Nesmith, deadpan singer-songwriter with the Monkees, dies at 78
Obituaries
Michael Nesmith, deadpan singer-songwriter with the Monkees, dies at 78
The wool-capped musician also helped pioneer the modern music video
By Harrison Smith
Yesterday at 2:24 p.m. EST|Updated yesterday at 7:24 p.m. EST
Michael Nesmith, the wool-capped singer-songwriter and guitarist who sprang to pop music stardom in the 1960s as a member of the Monkees, then went on to a multifaceted career as a country rock musician, music video pioneer, movie producer and media executive, died Dec. 10 at his home in Carmel Valley, Calif. He was 78.
The cause was a heart ailment, said Jason Elzy, the head of communications for Rhino Records, which represents the Monkees. Mr. Nesmith last performed less than a month ago, concluding a Monkees farewell tour in Los Angeles with singer and drummer Micky Dolenz, who is now the band’s sole surviving member.
{snip}
Moving into new musical territory, Mr. Nesmith recorded three country rock albums with the First National Band, which struggled to build a following but scored a Top 40 hit with “Joanne,” from their 1970 debut album, “Magnetic South.” “It’s a minor masterpiece of country-rock,” wrote AllMusic reviewer Mark Deming, “and while the Eagles may have sold more records, Nesmith yodels a hell of a lot better than any of them.”
Mr. Nesmith also recorded solo albums including “And the Hits Just Keep on Comin’ ” (1972), with in-demand pedal steel guitarist Red Rhodes; collaborated with Linda Hargrove to write “I’ve Never Loved Anyone More,” which became a country hit for Lynn Anderson; and founded a record label, Pacific Arts.
The company moved into film and video projects after Mr. Nesmith decided to promote his 1976 single “Rio” by creating one of the first modern music videos, (1) a surreal pastiche of classic Hollywood musicals and Disney films that showed him reclining on the beach and dancing at a tropical nightclub. He later included the video in “Elephant Parts” (1981), an hour-long collection of music videos, comedy sketches and parody commercials that earned Mr. Nesmith the first Grammy Award for video of the year.
Mr. Nesmith also created the MTV precursor “PopClips,” a weekly music-video show that aired on Nickelodeon in the early 1980s, and hosted the short-lived NBC series “Television Parts,” a zany, experimental mix of music and comedy. Shifting his focus to Hollywood, he recorded the music and co-wrote the screenplay for “Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann” (1982), a science-fiction film about a dirt-bike racer, and served as the executive producer of the cult classic “Repo Man” (1984), starring Emilio Estevez as a punk rocker recruited to join Harry Dean Stanton’s car repossession agency.
His projects were funded in part by the vast fortune he inherited from his mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, a secretary who used white tempera paint to invent the correction fluid Liquid Paper, which became an office staple. After her death in 1980, Mr. Nesmith used some of his inheritance to fund nonprofit organizations that she had founded to help women in business and the arts. When the Monkees reunited for concert tours he usually stayed home, although he joined them in the studio for albums including “Good Times!” (2016), in which he sang lead on “Me & Magdalena,” one of the band’s most tender songs.
{snip}
Mr. Nesmith performs at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va., in 2013. (Kyle Gustafson for The Washington Post)
{snip}
Although Mr. Nesmith was sometimes said to have a strained relationship with the Monkees, he said he had “always been at peace” with the band. “I loved them,” he told Uncut magazine in 2012. “I thought about this when Davy died: I really felt the Monkees were Davy’s band. He embodied it all in some way. Then, close behind him was Mick, who was funny. They were the driving force; I was always a little off to the side. And that was never a problem for me. It was always a joy, because they were so very good.”
Gift Article
https://wapo.st/3oKmNCF
By Harrison Smith
Harrison Smith is a reporter on The Washington Post's obituaries desk. Since joining the obituaries section in 2015, he has profiled big-game hunters, fallen dictators and Olympic champions. He sometimes covers the living as well, and previously co-founded the South Side Weekly, a community newspaper in Chicago. Twitter https://twitter.com/harrisondsmith
Michael Nesmith, deadpan singer-songwriter with the Monkees, dies at 78
The wool-capped musician also helped pioneer the modern music video
By Harrison Smith
Yesterday at 2:24 p.m. EST|Updated yesterday at 7:24 p.m. EST
Michael Nesmith, the wool-capped singer-songwriter and guitarist who sprang to pop music stardom in the 1960s as a member of the Monkees, then went on to a multifaceted career as a country rock musician, music video pioneer, movie producer and media executive, died Dec. 10 at his home in Carmel Valley, Calif. He was 78.
The cause was a heart ailment, said Jason Elzy, the head of communications for Rhino Records, which represents the Monkees. Mr. Nesmith last performed less than a month ago, concluding a Monkees farewell tour in Los Angeles with singer and drummer Micky Dolenz, who is now the band’s sole surviving member.
{snip}
Moving into new musical territory, Mr. Nesmith recorded three country rock albums with the First National Band, which struggled to build a following but scored a Top 40 hit with “Joanne,” from their 1970 debut album, “Magnetic South.” “It’s a minor masterpiece of country-rock,” wrote AllMusic reviewer Mark Deming, “and while the Eagles may have sold more records, Nesmith yodels a hell of a lot better than any of them.”
Mr. Nesmith also recorded solo albums including “And the Hits Just Keep on Comin’ ” (1972), with in-demand pedal steel guitarist Red Rhodes; collaborated with Linda Hargrove to write “I’ve Never Loved Anyone More,” which became a country hit for Lynn Anderson; and founded a record label, Pacific Arts.
The company moved into film and video projects after Mr. Nesmith decided to promote his 1976 single “Rio” by creating one of the first modern music videos, (1) a surreal pastiche of classic Hollywood musicals and Disney films that showed him reclining on the beach and dancing at a tropical nightclub. He later included the video in “Elephant Parts” (1981), an hour-long collection of music videos, comedy sketches and parody commercials that earned Mr. Nesmith the first Grammy Award for video of the year.
Mr. Nesmith also created the MTV precursor “PopClips,” a weekly music-video show that aired on Nickelodeon in the early 1980s, and hosted the short-lived NBC series “Television Parts,” a zany, experimental mix of music and comedy. Shifting his focus to Hollywood, he recorded the music and co-wrote the screenplay for “Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann” (1982), a science-fiction film about a dirt-bike racer, and served as the executive producer of the cult classic “Repo Man” (1984), starring Emilio Estevez as a punk rocker recruited to join Harry Dean Stanton’s car repossession agency.
His projects were funded in part by the vast fortune he inherited from his mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, a secretary who used white tempera paint to invent the correction fluid Liquid Paper, which became an office staple. After her death in 1980, Mr. Nesmith used some of his inheritance to fund nonprofit organizations that she had founded to help women in business and the arts. When the Monkees reunited for concert tours he usually stayed home, although he joined them in the studio for albums including “Good Times!” (2016), in which he sang lead on “Me & Magdalena,” one of the band’s most tender songs.
{snip}
Mr. Nesmith performs at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va., in 2013. (Kyle Gustafson for The Washington Post)
{snip}
Although Mr. Nesmith was sometimes said to have a strained relationship with the Monkees, he said he had “always been at peace” with the band. “I loved them,” he told Uncut magazine in 2012. “I thought about this when Davy died: I really felt the Monkees were Davy’s band. He embodied it all in some way. Then, close behind him was Mick, who was funny. They were the driving force; I was always a little off to the side. And that was never a problem for me. It was always a joy, because they were so very good.”
Gift Article
https://wapo.st/3oKmNCF
By Harrison Smith
Harrison Smith is a reporter on The Washington Post's obituaries desk. Since joining the obituaries section in 2015, he has profiled big-game hunters, fallen dictators and Olympic champions. He sometimes covers the living as well, and previously co-founded the South Side Weekly, a community newspaper in Chicago. Twitter https://twitter.com/harrisondsmith
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1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Mr. Nesmith also created the MTV precursor “PopClips,” a weekly music-video show that aired on Nickelodeon in the early 1980s
Which Warner Communications purchased the concept from him and called it MTV.
