Peter Tork, R.I.P.

Peter Tork, bassist and keyboard player for the 1960's pop rock group The Monkees, passed away today at the age of 77. A cause of death was not released although Tork was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer ten years ago. It is possible the illness recurred as The Monkees are due to begin a concert tour next month which features a stop at New York City's Beacon Theatre and only Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith were listed as performers. The Monkees' other alum Davy Jones died of a heart attack in 2012.

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to see Tork perform with Dolenz in May 2016 at the Wilbur Theater in Boston. I remember Tork playing a rendition of Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher" on the banjo which he described as "Motown meets The Appalachians".

Tork became a Monkee in large part due to the fact his friend Stephen Stills had bad teeth. Stills let Tork know about this TV show being developed by Don Kirshner and the rest is pop culture history. Unlike his bandmates, Tork was an accomplished musician as a veteran of the Greenwich Village folk scene. More than any other Monkee, he resented not being allowed to play instruments.

By their third album, The Monkees had taken control of their destiny. Perhaps Tork's most significant musical contribution to the band was the piano intro on "Daydream Believer", their final number one hit.

Tork would struggle to find his way after leaving The Monkees in 1969. Efforts at a solo career didn't get off the ground and neither did a record/movie production company. For a time, Tork worked as a high school teacher in Southern California. By the mid-80's, with interest in The Monkees renewed with reruns on MTV, Tork would participate in various Monkees reunions and the group even had a Top 20 hit in 1986 called "That Was Then, This Is Now". During the 1990's, Tork recorded his only solo album Stranger Things Have Happened and made a couple of guest appearances of Topanga Lawerence's father on Boy Meets World. 

I leave you with Tork performing "Higher and Higher" during his final tour with The Monkees in 2016. R.I.P.