Monkee History 2003 – Present

The individual members of The Monkees have spent the last several years advancing their solo careers.  Micky Dolenz accepted a prestigious offer to tour in the Elton John/Tim Rice musical AIDA, playing the character “Zoser.”  Dolenz toured the United States with the National Company throughout 2003 and took over the role on Broadway in January 2004.  Dolenz and the show itself received very positive reviews, and he remained on Broadway until the last performance on September 5, 2004.  Dolenz then became the morning show host on the WCBS-FM Morning Radio Show in New York City until the station changed formats in the summer of 2005.  Micky returned to the stage in Pippin in 2006.  Peter Tork continues to work and perform with his band Shoe Suede Blues.  David Jones continues to perform solo concerts and occasionally makes television appearances.  “Living in TV Land,” which airs on the American cable channel TV Land, profiled his life and career in an episode that aired in 2006.  Finally, Michael Nesmith released a new solo album in 2006 entitled Rays.  Nesmith is reportedly finishing work on his second novel, American Gene.

The first and second season of “The Monkees” television series is now available on DVD.  In April 2003, Rhino Records released a new compact disc collection, The Best of the Monkees, featuring 25 Monkees classics.  The collection debuted with strong sales and landed at #51 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart in its first week of release.

The long-awaited book by Monkees historian Andrew Sandoval, The Monkees: The Day-By-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, studying the band’s career from 1965-1970, was released in 2005.   Updates and further details on its publication can be found at his website.

In celebration of the 40^th anniversary of The Monkees in 2006, Rhino Records will once again reissue the recording catalog of The Monkees, this time as 2-CD deluxe editions.  The first two albums were released in August 2006.

The official Monkees website was opened by Rhino Records in August 2006.