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Davy Jones (who as lead singer of the Monkees turned a prefab TV band gig into a life-long career) died Wednesday of a heart attack in Stuart, Fla. He was 66.
His death shocked fans and friends like by Bruce Morrow, the veteran city radio deejay.
“I was stunned” – said Morrow. “He seemed to be in such good health.”
Morrow extended his four-hour Wednesday night show to seven hours so fans could call “to talk about how much he meant to them.”
Morrow also said that he thought Jones and his fellow Monkees Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith had over the years achieved at least some of their biggest wish: that their music be given some respect.
“Their music began to be taken more seriously when they took it more seriously themselves” – said Morrow. “At first they were just goofing around. But when they started to concentrate on the craft, they became much better.”
While critics have regularly dismissed the Monkees as lightweight bubblegum pop, deejay Joe Causi of WCBS-FM says, they still were important.
“They became part of the culture” – he said. “They were a big part of growing up in the late 1960s.”
Causi, who was on the air when Jones’s death was announced, said the station was inundated with phone calls and text messages. “There were hundreds” – said Causi. “People really loved this guy” – he said.
Unlike Tork, Dolenz and Nesmith, Jones didn’t play an instrument when he was hired to join NBC’s “The Monkees” in 1966. So he picked up a tambourine and became the front man.

Davy Jones.

It’s the frantic moments a woman desperately tries to get help for music icon Davy Jones.
A woman is heard calling 911 where she pleads for an ambulance to “hurry” – The Monkees singer had suffered a heart attack at his home.
The unidentified female then suggests it might be quicker to put the singer into a truck and drive to the hospital.
The tape plays the tragic moments before the lead singer of The Monkees was pronounced dead.
The woman asks: “Ambulance please,” before highlighting the urgency adding: “Hurry!”
She is then heard suggesting it might be quicker to take the 66-year-old singer in a car to the hospital which was 27 miles away from his home.
Davy Jones (the lead singer of the 1960s group The Monkees) died on Wednesday after suffering a massive heart attack. He was 66.
Jones complained of breathing troubles early in the morning and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Rhonda Irons, spokeswoman for the Martin County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.
An official from the medical examiner’s office for Martin County, Florida, said they received a phone call from the Martin Memorial Hospital informing them that Davy had died.
A spokesman for the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said he was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital in the town of Stuart.
The spokesman said they are investigating Jones’s death but said there do not appear to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.
A statement released by the Sherriff’s Office said – “A witness has stated that earlier this morning he was at 9955 SW Fox Brown Road in Indiantown, Florida, with David Jones (He stated Mr. Jones began to complain of not feeling well and having trouble breathing.
“Martin County Fire Rescue responded and transported Mr. Jones to Martin Health System. Stuart, where he was pronounced deceased. At this time there do not appear to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding the death. Family has been notified.”

The British-born star, whose TV antics with Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork drew fans but also unflattering comparisons with the Beatles, died of a heart attack in Florida – the TMZ celebrity website said.
The singer died after being transported to Martin Hospital South in Martin County, southern Florida, near where Jones lived, said a spokesman for the hospital, Scott Samples.
“Mr. Jones began to complain of not feeling well and having trouble breathing” – said the Martin County Sheriff’s Office in a statement, adding that emergency services took him to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The four-piece band initially gained fame through their TV show about a band called The Monkees, created by legendary US music producer Don Kirshner.
His good looks and British charm – he was born in Manchester, England – went down well with US audiences, along with the three American group members: guitarist Nesmith, bassist Tork and drummer-singer Dolenz.
Their knockabout antics on the show – with the toe-tapping theme tune Hey Hey, We’re the Monkees – drew criticism that they were a rip-off of the Beatles, who had taken America by storm a few years earlier.
The TV show only aired for three years in the US in the 1960′s, but it was re-run elsewhere over the years and is remembered by a generation of fans, if not by current younger audiences.
Other hits included Daydream Believer and Pleasant Valley Sunday.
The band released nine albums between 1966 and 1970, after which they disbanded – but have reformed in various combinations over the years, according to the Billboard magazine.
The star’s Monkees bandmates voiced sorrow and shock.
“His talent will be much missed; his gifts will be with us always… Adios, to the Manchester Cowboy,” Tork wrote on his Facebook page, calling Jones his “long-time friend and fellow-adventurer”.
“I am in a state of shock and disbelief right now… My heart and prayers go out to Davy’s family” – added Dolenz on his Twitter account.
Fresh-faced Jones was also said to be the reason that David Bowie – real name David Robert Jones – changed his name in the mid-1960s to avoid any confusion.
The US band’s producer Kirshner, once described as “The Man with the Golden Ear” for his ability to detect and promote a hit record, died in January last year.
As well as launching the TV band, Kirshner also nurtured stars including Neil Diamond, Bobby Darin, Neil Sedaka and song-writing husband and wife Carole King and Gerry Goffin.