Who are the monkees?In November 1965, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz came together as The Monkees to film a pilot television program for creator/producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider’s Raybert Productions. The group members were selected via a casting call, word of mouth and just plain luck. All four had prior musical and acting experience.The Monkees series was sold to the NBC network in February 1966 and began shooting at the end of May. It debuted on September 12, 1966 and ran for two seasons. Fifty-eight half-hour programs were produced over an 18-month period, and the show won two Emmy awards in 1967.During June ‘66, the Monkees started recording sessions for the show’s soundtrack with a variety of producers and songwriters. Contrary to popular belief, the Monkees did perform instrumentally on some of these sessions and provided the lead vocals for all of their recorded efforts. Additionally, group member Michael Nesmith produced and wrote some of the Monkees’ earliest recordings.Without a doubt, the architects of the Monkees’ sound were Music Coordinator Don Kirshner and songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. In addition to composing and performing the music featured in The Monkees pilot from November ’65, Boyce and Hart’s creations included “Last Train To Clarksville” (#1 in 1966), “(Theme From) The Monkees,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” (#20 in 1966), “Valleri” (#3 in 1968), “Words” (#11 in 1967), “I Wanna Be Free” and “She.”The Monkees scored their biggest hit in late 1966 with Jeff Barry’s production of the Neil Diamond song, “I’m A Believer.” Despite this success, friction developed between the group and Music Coordinator Don K...
