Michael Nesmith, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter with 1960s pop group The Monkees, has died at the age of 78.
The quartet enjoyed hits like Daydream Believer and I'm A Believer, and starred in their own popular TV comedy.Nesmith composed tunes like Listen To The Band, Sunny Girlfriend and Tapioca Tundra.
In a statement, his family stated he "died this morning in his house, surrounded by family, quietly and of natural causes".
He had actually been on tour last month and the group's manager Andrew Sandoval stated: "We shared lots of journeys and projects together throughout 30 years, which culminated in a Monkees goodbye trip that finished up only a few weeks earlier."That tour was a true blessing for so many. And in the end I know that Michael was at peace with his tradition that included songwriting, producing, acting, direction therefore numerous innovative ideas and ideas.
"I am positive the brilliance he captured will resonate and offer the love and light towards which he always moved."Nesmith died from heart failure at his house in Carmel Valley, California, on Friday, a spokesman for record label Rhino narrated.The Monkees were originally produced for their TV program and found popularity with tunes that were composed for them.
However Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Brit Davy Jones went on to take full control of their music." We were kids with our own taste in music and were better carrying out songs we liked - and/or wrote - than tunes that were handed to us," Nesmith informed Rolling Stone in 2012.The group broke up in 1969, after which Nesmith scored 2 US chart strikes with his First National Band. He likewise composed the song Different Drum, which became a significant country hit for Linda Ronstadt.
After recording a video for his single Rio in 1977, Nesmith came up with the concept of a television program consisting completely of discount clips."Audio records are played on radio, so a video record should be played on video - on television," he wrote in his memoir. "There should be a broadcast component for the music video just like there is for records." ' One of the all-time greatest'
Nesmith called his concept PopClips, and later offered the copyright to Time Warner, who used it to introduce and develop MTV.Paying homage, Midge Ure described him as "an underrated, gifted artist, songwriter and video artist".
TV manufacturer John Levenstein tweeted: "RIP Michael Nesmith. He was my first manager. I was insubordinate and young.
"He was bemused and patient. Later we became great friends. He had no fear of death." Artist Steven Page included: "One of the all-time biggest. Rest in peace."
Nesmith was raised by a single mom, a secretary who took pleasure in a sideline in painting. As electric typewriters ended up being typical, it became harder to remedy mistakes, so she developed a paint in the house that matched the typing paper in her office. The invention later on ended up being liquid paper, understood in the UK as Tipp-Ex.