In 1956, Micky Dolenz landed his first TV show, “Circus Boy.” The 11-year-old, then known as Micky Braddock, also went on tour with Bimbo, his larger-than-life sidekick.

Micky Dolenz

“That was the first time I ever performed on stage, really, singing,” he said. “I was the opening act for my elephant. That’s funny, isn’t it?”

Yes, considering his next tourmates would be Monkees.

“I had been up for two or three pilots [in 1965]. And there were other shows that producers were trying to get on the air sort of trying to capitalize on rock ‘n’ roll, Beatles, you know, the British invasion, pop, beach. There was one show I remember I was up for about a surfer band like The Beach Boys, and there was another one that was kind of a folk group thing like Peter, Paul & Mary. Those shows never got on the air.

“So the television industry was trying to capitalize on that,” Dolenz said during a phone interview from Los Angeles. “And I do remember thinking [‘The Monkees’] script, these producers, this show was kind of different. I remember thinking to myself I would really like to get this one.”

And he did, along with Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork. “The Monkees” debuted in 1966 and won two Emmy Awards the next year. The quartet shot 58 half-hour episodes in 18 months while swinging onto the record charts with “Last Train to Clarksville,” “(Theme From) The Monkees,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” “I’m a Believer,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday” and “Daydream Believer.”

“I feel blessed to have been part of that show and that whole project. And The Monkees was a project — it involved a lot of people besides me, Mike, Davy and Peter. It involved the producers and the directors and the record company and the songwriters,” Dolenz said. “I feel blessed to have been able to sing the songs written by some of the greatest songwriters of our time, Carole King, [Tommy] Boyce and [Bobby] Hart, and Neil Diamond and David Gates and Carole Bayer Sager, all these incredible songwriters; they had a lot to do with it, obviously.”

Of course, the guys did sing and play, contrary to some beliefs. Dolenz learned the drums and shared lead singing duties with Jones, while Nesmith played guitar and Tork was on bass, guitars, keyboards, banjo.

“When you’re as successful as I was,” Dolenz joked and laughed, “you don’t really pay much attention to the critics; they obviously had no effect on the success, so who cares?”

And there was more success when MTV showed “The Monkees” in 1986 to commemorate its 20th anniversary. The band had seven albums on Billboard’s top 200 chart in 1987.

“I was more surprised then than the original time,” Dolenz said. “I came back for that ‘86 reunion tour — that surprised really more than anything. It was pretty amazing.”

The 63-year-old continues to perform on stage as a solo act as well as in musicals. In addition, his resumé lists director, producer, actor, author, painter, disk jockey, voice-over artist for cartoons …

“I’ve kind of done a little bit of everything; I’m either a renaissance man or a dilettante, I guess, depending on your definition of the terms,” he quipped.

Dolenz will appear with his sister, Coco Dolenz, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at the La-Z-Boy Center Meyer Theater at Monroe County Community College. Tickets are $30 and $25. Visit www.mickydolenz.com and click on links for more information.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 17th, 2008 at 1:25 am and is filed under Arts and Life, In Concert.
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