michael nesmith

Before The Monkees

Robert Michael Nesmith was born on December 30, 1942 in Houston, Texas. His parents, Warren and Bette Nesmith, divorced in 1946. Three years later, Michael and his mother moved from Houston to Dallas, where Bette found work as a secretary at Texas Bank & Trust.

In 1958 (while Michael was attending his first year at Thomas Jefferson High School), Bette marketed her invention "Liquid Paper" via The Mistake Out Company. This product, still used globally, corrected minor mistakes in handwriting or typing with a small dab of white paint.

In 1959, Michael took his first stab at acting with a role in the Thomas Jefferson High School production of Oklahoma (as Andrew Carnes). The following year, he joined school's concert choir, developing his skill as a pitch-perfect vocalist.

After high school, Michael Nesmith enlisted in the Air Force and was stationed at Sheppard's Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. Using a weekend pass to visit Oklahoma, Michael attended a gig by Hoyt Axton that inspired him to take up the guitar. By Christmas of '62, he had his own guitar and immediately started composing original songs.

After tipping over a general's airplane, Nesmith left the military for higher education at San Antonio College. Though he majored in drama at SAC in '63, his artistic interest turned towards folk music. In addition to performing solo, Nesmith formed a folk troupe for such events as shopping center openings and private parties. This aggregation featured his wife-to-be Phyllis Barbour, her then-boyfriend Mark Weakley, brothers David and Bob Price, Bill Collins, Tommy Piper, Bill Holloway and various others. Also at this time, Michael released his first recording on Highness Records. Both "Wanderin'" and "Well, Well" were self-penned tracks, and Nesmith's gift as a writer led him to compose the song "Go Somewhere And Cry," for Denny Ezba & the Goldens (the group's record of this track featured Nesmith as whistler and additional guitarist).

During his fall semester at SAC, Nesmith met bassist John London (nee Kuehne) and the two formed an almost instant musical bond. For the next several years, London was Nesmith's closest musical cohort.

On June 27th 1964, Nesmith wed Phyllis Barbour after which the newlyweds moved to Los Angeles to catch up with John London. The couple's first child, Christian DuVal Nesmith, was born at the Griffith Park maternity home on January 31, 1965.

During 1965, Nesmith straddled two musical scenes leading his own electric combo called Mike & John & Bill (with John London and Bill Sleeper), as well as assuming the solo acoustic folk personae of Michael Blessing. Shifting management from Frankie Laine's organization to Bob Krasnow, he found a home alongside future Monkee Davy Jones at Colpix Records. He also began hanging out at a West Hollywood night-club called the Troubadour, forming new associations in the music scene. One of these came through songwriter/musician Bill Chadwick, who recruited Nesmith (and London) to join the Survivors, a large folk ensemble in the tradition of the New Christy Minstrels. Other members of this unit included Owens Castleman and Michael Murphey (both of whom contributed songs to the Monkees), as well as Nyles Brown (who became an extra on The Monkees series).

In the summer of '65, Nesmith issued a single on Omnibus under the guise of Mike & John & Bill ("How Can You Kiss Me" coupled with "Just A Little Love"), but like his Highness single, the release made little noise. Amidst taping two further singles for Colpix as Michael Blessing, Nesmith successfully auditioned for The Monkees series. Michael filmed his screen test on October 7th, telling show creator Bob Rafelson of his past, "I was a failureäI think I'm out of work and I hope I get this series."

After The Monkees

Upon his departure from the Monkees in early 1970, Michael Nesmith's solo career quickly blossomed. Three critically acclaimed albums with his First National Band (Magnetic South, Loose Salute and Nevada Fighter) and two hit singles ("Joanne" and "Silver Moon") were released in little more than a year, but after that mainstream acceptance was hard to come by. Nesmith continued unfazed with a slew of quality releases, including an album ironically titled And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'.

Since his Monkee days, Nesmith had enjoyed a strong cult following in Britain, which garnered him a hit in 1977 with the single "Rio." Asked to create a promotional clip for the song, Michael filmed a conceptual rock video which drew accolades throughout the industry. Somehow inspired by the success of the primitive home video game Pong, Nesmith felt that the future of music and videos were inextricably linked. As proof of this, he created a pilot program called Popclips (for cable's Nickelodeon) filled with music videos and later sold the idea to Warner Communications as the basis for a twenty-four-hour-a-day music station called MTV. He also opened a video label Pacific Arts (itself an off shoot of Nesmith’s own record company) and produced the Grammy award winning, 1981 long form video album Elephant Parts.

During the '80s he produced a series of cult classic movies: Timerider (1982); Repo Man (1984); Square Dance (1987); Tapeheads (1988). In 1983, he returned to prime time television with his own series, Television Parts. Nesmith has also worked on the board of trustees as a nominating member of the American Film Institute. Outside of the entertainment world, Nesmith hosts the Council on Ideas, a gathering of intellectuals from different fields who brainstorm solutions to global problems (as a part of his late mother Bette's Gihon Foundation).

Just a few days short of the 20th anniversary of The Monkees series' debut, Nesmith briefly rejoined his former bandmates on stage at Los Angeles' Greek Theater for performances of "Listen To The Band" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday." After this, the four Monkees taped a Christmas video for MTV, but Michael had no intention of any permanent reunion. However, ten years later Nesmith did regroup with the Monkees for an album called Justus. As the title implied, this was a group effort ala 1967's Headquarters. Sadly, 1997 was like 1967 in so many ways for the Monkees. Fans loved them, critics did not. By the end of March, Michael had grown weary of working with his bandmates and begged off any future projects with them. An ABC network television special, Hey Hey We're The Monkees, directed by Nesmith before the split returned the group to prime time for one night only.

Over the last ten years, Nesmith has kept a low media profile, but has remained creative. In 1998, Nesmith published his first novel, The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora and his long-awaited new album, Rays, was released on April 4, 2006. You can keep up with all of Nez's latest projects and products at www.videoranch.com