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Robert Michael Nesmith, born (1942-12-30) December 30, 1942 (age 81) in Harris County, Texas, is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, perhaps best known for his time in the musical group The Monkees and on the TV series of the same name.

Nesmith's mother was Bette Nesmith Graham. He has two sons, Christian (born 1964) and Jonathan (born 1968), and a daughter, Jessica (born 1970), by his first wife Phyllis Barbour, and son Jason Nesmith (born 1968) by photographer/socialite Nurit Wilde.

Biography

In his teen years, Nesmith was an indifferent student, and an occasional prankster. An urban legend told about him is that one such prank with a firecracker went bad on Nesmith, who suffered a hand injury. It was suggested that he learn to play an instrument to help his dexterity, and music became his new interest, through guitar lessons. This is, in fact, false. It was a different accident that injured his hand, and he did not learn guitar until his 20s. He did, however, participate in choral and drama activities during his years at Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas.

After a tour of duty in the Air Force, Nesmith decided to try making a living with music, bought a better guitar with his parents' help, and joined a series of working bands, playing folk, country, and occasionally rock and roll. Another teen pastime, writing poetry, became the basis for original song lyrics, and after moving to Los Angeles with Phyllis and friend John London, he published a number of his own songs. Nesmith's "Mary, Mary" was recorded by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, while "Different Drum" was recorded by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. "Pretty Little Princess", written in 1965, was recorded by Frankie Laine and released as a single in 1968 on ABC Records. Later, "Some Of Shelly's Blues" and "Propinquity (I've Just Begun To Care)" were made popular by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy in 1970.

Nesmith began his recording career in 1965, with a one-off single released on Edan Records. He followed this with two singles recorded under the name "Michael Blessing", released on Colpix Records – coincidentally also the label of Davy Jones, though they had not yet met.

The Monkees

From 1965 to early 1970, Nesmith and Jones were members of the pop rock band The Monkees, created for the television situation comedy of the same name. The only Monkee to learn of the audition from the famous press advertisement (asking for "four insane boys"), Nesmith won his role largely by appearing blasé when he auditioned, as if he were considering the studio, and not the other way around. He further distinguished himself by carrying a bag of laundry to be done on the way home, and wearing a wool cap to keep his hair out of his eyes, riding his motorcycle to the audition. Producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider remembered "Wool Hat", and called Nesmith back. Once he was cast, Screen Gems bought his songs from their publishers, so they could be used in the show. Many of the songs Nesmith wrote for The Monkees, such as "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", "Mary, Mary", and "Listen to the Band" became minor hits. One song he wrote, "You Just May Be The One," is in mixed meter, interspersing 5/4 bars into an otherwise 4/4 structure.

As with the other Monkees, Nesmith came to be frustrated by the "manufactured image" and role imposed on them by the whole project, and wanted a bigger hand in matters. He was permitted to write and produce two songs per album, and his music was frequently featured in episodes of the series. However, Nesmith wanted a shot at making singles for the band in addition to his album tracks.

While the Monkees did succeed in ousting supervisor Don Kirshner (with Nesmith punching a hole in a wall, to make a point with Kirshner and attorney Herb Moelis), and took control of their records and song choices, sales dipped. The band never overcame the credibility problems they faced when word spread (at Nesmith's instigation, calling the band's first non-studio press conference, where he called More of The Monkees "probably the worst record in the history of the world") that they had not played on their first records.

Nesmith also found Monkees concerts dissatisfying as a performer, with audiences made up largely of children and their parents, who expected to hear their hits first and foremost.

Nesmith had fought hard to have his songs featured more prominently, and the Monkees to really play, but years later seemed to discount both: "I wasn't the only musician, and I wasn't much of a musician. What I was able to do was write tunes; I could just sort of pull them out of a hat." He particularly trashed the compilation More Greatest Hits of the Monkees as being "badly recorded, badly sung, marginally played, and they're weak tunes." He did not regret his Monkees days though, for the most part, continued to praise his band-mates (although not always getting along with them), and tended to like the fans that he met.

Nesmith's last Monkees commitment was a Kool-Aid commercial, early in 1970. With the band's fortunes continuing to fall, Nesmith asked to be released from his contract, and had to pay a default: "I had three years left...at $150,000 a year," which he had to pay back. He continued to feel the financial bite for years afterwards, telling Playboy in 1980 "I had to start telling little tales to the tax man while they were putting tags on the furniture."

In 1995, he re-united with the band to record their last studio album (and first to feature all four since Head) entitled Justus, released in 1996. He also wrote and directed a Monkees TV Special and briefly toured the UK with the band in 1997. Nesmith parted ways with the band again when the tour came to America later in the year.

Later career

As he prepared for his exit from The Monkees, Nesmith was approached by John Ware of The Corvettes, a band that featured Nesmith's friend John London (who played on some of the earliest pre-Monkees Nesmith 45s as well as numerous Monkees sessions) and had 45s produced by Nesmith for the Dot label in 1969. Ware wanted Nesmith to consider the idea of putting together a band. Nesmith noted that he would be interested only if noted pedal steel player Orville "Red" Rhodes would be a part of the project, something Nesmith found unlikely as Red had a coveted job as bandleader at the Palomino Club in L.A. Ware asked Red if he was interested and a long musical partnership was born between Nesmith and Rhodes that would continue until Rhodes' untimely death in 1995. With London in tow, the new band was christened Michael Nesmith and the First National Band and went on to record three albums for RCA Records in 1970.

Nesmith has been considered one of the pioneers of country-rock (along with Gram Parsons) and had moderate commercial success with the First National Band. Their second single, "Joanne," hit #21 on the Billboard chart & #17 on Cashbox, with the followup "Silver Moon" making #42 Billboard/#28 Cashbox. Two more singles charted ("Nevada Fighter" #70 Billboard/#73 Cashbox & "Propinquity" #95 Cashbox) and the first two LPs charted in the lower regions of the Billboard album chart. While no clear answer has ever been given for the band's breakup (though it seems certain it had to do with the musical direction that Nesmith had wanted to pursue), the trilogy of albums they recorded remain on par with the Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco and New Riders of the Purple Sage as some of the best country-rock music committed to vinyl.

Nesmith followed up the First National Band with the Second National Band, a band that consisted largely of members of Elvis Presley's band, as well as Jose Feliciano. The album was a commercial and critical disaster, and Nesmith then decided to cut one of the best albums of his career, featuring only him on guitar and Red Rhodes on pedal steel, And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'.

Around this time, Nesmith got more heavily involved in producing, and was given a label of his own through Elektra Records, Countryside. The Countryside label featured a number of artists that were produced by Nesmith, including Garland Frady and Red Rhodes. The staff band at Countryside also helped Nesmith on his next, and last, RCA album, Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash.

In the mid-1970s Nesmith briefly collaborated as a songwriter with Linda Hargrove, resulting in the tune "I've Never Loved Anyone More," a hit for Lynn Anderson and recorded by many others, as well as the songs "Winonah" and "If You Will Walk With Me" which were both recorded by Hargrove. Of all three songs, only "Winonah" was recorded by Nesmith himself. During this same period, Nesmith started his multimedia company Pacific Arts, which initially put out audio records, 8-tracks and cassette, followed in 1981 with "video records." Nesmith recorded a number of LPs for his label, and had a moderate worldwide hit in 1977 with his song "Rio", the single taken from the album "From A Radio Engine To The Photon Wing". More importantly, Nesmith created a video clip for "Rio" which, in a roundabout way, helped spur Nesmith's creation of a television program called Pop Clips for the Nickelodeon cable network. The concept was sold to Time Warner/Amex, who developed it into the MTV network. Nesmith won the first Grammy Award (1981) given for Video of the Year for his hour-long Elephant Parts and also had a short-lived series inspired by the video called "Television Parts".

Pacific Arts Video became a pioneer in the home video market, producing and distributing a wide variety of videotaped programs. Pacific Arts eventually ceased operations after an acrimonious contract dispute with PBS over home video licensing rights and payments for several series, including Ken Burns' The Civil War. On February 3, 1999, a jury awarded Nesmith $46.8 million in compensatory and punitive damages, prompting his widely-quoted comment, "It's like finding your grandmother stealing your stereo. You're happy to get your stereo back, but it's sad to find out your grandmother is a thief." PBS appealed the ruling and a settlement was reached with the results kept confidential.

He was the executive producer for the movies Repo Man, Tapeheads, and Timerider, as well as his own solo recording and film projects. In 1998, Nesmith published his first novel, The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora. His new album, Rays was released on April 4, 2006.

Since 1990, Nesmith has hosted the Council on Ideas, a gathering of intellectuals from different fields who are asked to brainstorm solutions to world problems.

Nesmith spent a decade as a board of trustees member and nominating member of the American Film Institute and is currently President and chairman of the board of trustees of the Gihon Foundation.

Nesmith's current project is Videoranch 3D, a virtual environment on the internet that hosts live performances at various virtual venues inside the Ranch.

Trivia

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (June 2007)

• Nesmith's mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, invented and patented opaque typewriter correction fluid, commonly known by the brand name "Liquid Paper" or "Wite-Out", in the 1950s. When she died, Nesmith inherited about half of her $50+ million estate.
• Nesmith was good friends with late author Douglas Adams, whose body of work includes The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
• The Gretsch guitar company built a one-off natural finish 12-string electric guitar for Nesmith when he was performing with The Monkees (Gretsch had a promotional deal with the group). The instrument was frequently cited at that time as being worth $5,000. While one-off custom instruments are very expensive, $5,000 in 1966 was the equivalent of $31,000 in 2007 money, and the "$5,000" price tag was undoubtedly inflated for publicity purposes. He earlier played a customized Gretsch twelve-string, which had originally been a six-string model.
• Nesmith is an avid archivist of early music videos, the bulk of which comprised the rotation of Video Concert Hall and early MTV.
• The Tragically Hip took their name from a skit in Nesmith's long-form video Elephant Parts.
• Nesmith is also known as "Papa Nez". (Or, simply, "Nez/Nes".)
• The back sleeve of Tantamount to Treason contains the "papa nes home-brew recipe" (for beer). It also contains a warning and a line with the text "autoclaving turns this line brown."
• Nesmith is exactly three years older than fellow Monkee Davy Jones and twelve years younger than fellow First National Band member Orville "Red" Rhodes, who both share his birthday: December 30.
• Nesmith had a cameo appearance as a taxi driver in the Whoopi Goldberg film Burglar.
• As a child, Nesmith was playing with a hammer and smashed his ring finger on his right hand and now he can't make a fist with that hand.

Discography

U.S. Singles

U.S. Albums

U.S. Non-compilation CD Releases

• "...tropical campfire's..." (Pacific Arts/Island), (1992)
• The Garden (Rio), (1994)
• Timerider: The Adventure Of Lyle Swann (Rio), (2000)
• Rays (Rio) (2006)

U.S. Compilation CD-Releases

• Compilation (Pacific Arts/Island), (1978)
• Complete (Pacific Arts/Island), (1993) (the first three "First National Band" albums)
• 16 Original Classics (Collectables Records), (1999) (reissue of Magnet South with "bonus tracks")

Video

• Rio and Cruisin' (1981)
• Elephant Parts (1981) (released on DVD 2003)
• The Television Parts Home Companion (1985)
• Dr. Duck's Super-Secret All-Purpose Sauce (1986)
• Nezmusic (1989)
• Live At The Britt Festival (1992) (released on DVD 1999)

Bibliography

Books

• • n.b. books proper - not including The Prison and The Garden
• The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora (1998)

Audio Books

• The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora (2004) (with Michael reading the story)

External links

• Videoranch 3D, a Mike Nesmith company
• Michael Nesmith at IMDb
• Michael Nesmith record price guide & discography by Joe Alterio
• Article in Wired magazine about Michael Nesmith and the Council on Ideas
• Michael Nesmith biography
• Michael Nesmith - The Interactive Monkey by Michael Dare
• (Unofficial) Michael Nesmith Home Page

Template:Persondata

1. "Robert Michael Nesmith", on countyhistorian.com
2. The Monkees: Mike Nesmith biography from Rhino Records

• Articles with trivia sections from June 2007
• 1942 births
• American rock guitarists
• American male singers
• American songwriters
• American philanthropists
• Living people
• People from Houston
• Graduates of Dallas ISD
• Musicians from Dallas
• United States Air Force airmen
• The Monkees members
• Grammy Award winners