I heard today the very sad news that singer, actor,jockey, and former Monkee Davy Jones passed away from a heart attack in his home today, he was only 66.  Long before Davy was a Monkee, he was a child actor on British soap operas and played The Artful Dodger in Oliver! on Broadway.  Ironically, the night that The Beatles performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, Davy was backstage with the cast of  Oliver! waiting to perform; little did he or the screaming hordes in the theater know that he’d become as idolized as Paul McCartney in just two years.

I had the great pleasure of seeing Davy perform with Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz  when they  did a Monkee reunion in 1996. It was a great show and you could see that Davy LOVED performing.   My sister and I had 7th row seats and at one point, Davy  walked up and down the side aisles, touching hands with fans. I found myself calling “Come here Davy!”  (just like a tween again).  Alas we were too far in the aisle, but man, what a fun show!  I recall it once said of Davy that “..if a fridge door opened, he’d do five minutes!” and I could just see him performing for the milk and mayonnaise.  He had one of the most unique, warm, yet seductive voices I’ve ever heard. Behold several of my favorites:

And here’s the funny scene from The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) where Davy sings  Girl at the school dance –looking a bit confused at the grunge influence,but so fun! The teachers are turned on and the students eventually realize that this guy was cool! (not the best quality, but the only copy I could find)

A commenter on YouTube wrote today: “A part of my childhood passed away today.”   I think many American women in my generation (1960’s) would sadly agree. Farewell Davy. Thanks for the joy.