Peter Tork: Born February 13, 1942

Died: February 21, 2019.

PETER Tork, who has died aged, 77, after a long period of suffering from cancer, was an actor and member of pop group phenomenon, The Monkees.

The Monkees were the original boy band, created by American television producers in a bid to rival the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Their first album, The Monkees, released in 1967, in fact outsold the Beatles and Stones combined, and a stream of hit singles included Daydream Believer and Last Train To Clarksville. But the success shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise. Many of the group’s hits were written by the top writers of the day such as Neil Diamond and Gerry Goffin/Carol King.

When Peter Tork joined the group, (aged 24, the oldest member) he was astonished to learn he and Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith and Micky Dolenz would not be allowed to play instruments; session musicians were hired. This didn’t augur well for the future. Tork was a talented classically trained musician before he joined the TV show/pop group, able to play seven instruments including acoustic and bass guitar, the oboe, banjo and keyboards.

Born Peter Halsten Thorkelson in Washington DC, Tork in fact was perhaps more likely to grow up to be an academic than pursue a career in the arts. His father was an economics professor at the University of Connecticut and the schoolboy Peter studied classical music from an early age. But his early Sixties focus was on the thriving New York folk scene and he moved to Greenwich Village where new friends included soon-to-be folk rock legend, Stephen Stills. It was Stills who auditioned for the new Monkees TV series (the ad read; Wanted: ‘Four insane boys aged 17 to 21’) featuring four pop musicians who lived in a house and got caught up in goofball, Marx Bros-inspired comedy. But Stills wasn’t deemed to be clean cut enough and when asked if he could recommend someone who was, he suggested his pal, Peter for the role of genial, dopey bassist.

Yet, Tork found himself in the wrong movie. He yearned for greater involvement in music. (He had come up with the opening piano chords of Daydream Believer and written Monkees songs such as For Pete’s Sake.) The massive adulation and success that came with being part of a phenomenon offered scant consolation. And the demands of Monkees performances around the world (at one point Jimi Hendrix was a support act) proved to be daunting. “I’d always found the fame hard to handle,” he once said in interview. “I gave a lot of my money away when I was younger – just left it in bowls around the house and people would help themselves to handfuls of it.

“I wasn’t thinking too clearly at the time and it might have been my low self-esteem, thinking that I didn’t deserve to keep the money, but it wasn’t really that bright, was it? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with giving money away to people, but give it where you can do some good.”

Clearly out of tune with the Monkees world, Tork bought himself out of his contract in 1968. But he said there was no real animosity. “There were moments of tension. But the Monkees never promised to stay together. People forget we started out as the cast of a TV show.”

Peter Tork formed his own group Release, but failed to land a record deal. Difficult times followed. Financially broke, he and his pregnant girlfriend Reine Stewart were forced to live in David Crosby’s basement. At one time Tork spent time in jail after a drugs conviction.

Later on, he would admit he had been an alcoholic. “I was awful. I would be snarling at people.” But he turned his life around, marrying and living in Southern California in the mid-Seventies he became a teacher.

Yet, the Monkees were never entirely absent from his life. On several occasions Tork teamed up with Jones and Dolenz for one-off performances and in 1986 the trio reformed as The Monkees for a hugely successful reunion tour.

Ten years on, Nesmith rejoined and the quartet produced a new album, Justus. In 2011 the group reconnected for a series of 45th anniversary concerts.

Peter Tork went on to work on a number of solo and group projects, but in 2012 he again teamed up with Dolenz and Nesmith to pay tribute to Davy Jones.

Three years before however, Tork had developed a rare cancer of the tongue, adenoid cystic carcinoma. He told the Washington Post; “I recovered very quickly after my surgery, and I’ve been hoping that my better-than-average constitution will keep the worst effects of radiation at bay. My voice and energy still seem to be in decent shape, so maybe I can pull these gigs off after all.”

On September 15, 2009, Tork received an “all clear” from his doctor and he continued to tour. But it was a false dawn for the much-loved star.

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys said of his friend. “I’m sad to hear about Peter Tork passing. I thought The Monkees were great and Peter will be missed. Love & mercy to Peter’s family, friends and fans.”

• Peter Tork is survived by his fourth wife Pam Tork as well as children Ivan Joseph Iannoli, Hallie Luia Tork and Erica Marie Tork