Peter Tork of Monkees fame dies at age 77

NEW YORK: Peter Tork, the offbeat folk artiste who found fame with 1960s pop band the Monkees, has died, his team announced on Thursday. He was 77 years old.

“It is with beyond-heavy and broken hearts that we share the devastating news that our friend, mentor, teacher, and amazing soul, Peter Tork, has passed from this world,” the team posted on his official Facebook page, without specifying a cause of death.

The musician in 2009 had been diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of cancer that affected his tongue.

“There are no words right now...heart broken over the loss of my Monkee brother,” tweeted drummer-singer Micky Dolenz, one of the band’s two surviving members.

A classic teeny-bopper band, the Monkees were the original reality TV stars, whose fourpiece group was first conceived as a show in 1965 that went on to win two Emmy awards and in 1967 outsell the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Songs like “Daydream Believer,” “I’m a Believer” and “Last Train to Clarksville” all topped the charts — but the wisecracking foursome drew criticism by some who considered them a rip-off of the Beatles, who had rushed onto the American pop culture scene a few years prior.

The band released nine albums between 1966 and 1970, after which they disbanded, but they have come back together in various combinations over the years.

“As I write this my tears are awash, and my heart is broken,” wrote band member Michael Nesmith.

“I can only pray his songs reach the heights that can lift us and that our childhood lives forever — that special sparkle that was the Monkees.” — AFP