Hi guys and welcome to my new Mike page! This section is dedicated to Mike Nesmith. He was born Robert Michael Nesmith on Dcember 30, 1942 (Same birthdate as Davy!) in Houston, Texas. His mother left her husband when she decided she did not want a military life anymore. So she moved him up to Dallas when he was little and raised him there. Mike and Bette (his mother) lived a tough life. They were dirt poor. The only means they had was Bette's receptionist job. Fortunately, she was a bad typist. She was making so many mistakes she decided to come up with something to fix them. So she invented Liquid Paper! Her boss didn't like it because he thought she was trying to hide her mistakes, but all her friends loved it. She eventually started making the stuff in her kitchen and selling it to people around the neighborhood. Mike and his friends got to be the ones to sell it. But anyway, back to Mike. He started playing guitar when a firecracker exploded in his hand and he wanted to regain the life in it. So he took up guitar. That's what started him loving music. He started writing his own songs and even had some bands record them. Danny Ezba and the Goldens recorded Mike's "Go Somewhere and Cry." Mike met John London when he was attending San Antonio College. They then formed a duo performing around the campus until they started performing at a locla club called "The Reel." Then Mike, John, and Phyllis Barbour, his future wife, headed to Los Angeles. Fianlly, after recording with John and Bill Sleeper, he decided to try his solo career. He used the pseudonym "Michael Blessing" which he found ot of the phone book. He recorded two singles for Colpix records. He then found the ad for the Monkees auditions and got the part. He was known as their leader, the straight man. He fought with music supervisor Don Kirshner who was eventually fired and won the right to play his own music and write some of the songs. After the Monkees ended, he formed his own band. He formed the First National Band which came out with three albums. He had two top ten hits with "Joanne" and "Silver Moon." When the First National Band broke up, he tried again by forming the Second National Band, but they broke up during the recording of the first album. So he pursued a solo career. In 1976, Mike discovered the music video. He made one of the first videos ever with "Rio" which became his first hit in over five years. He formed the Pacific Arts company and soon concentrated only on video. He then made a video record called "Elephant Parts" which won him the first Grammy ever given for a video. He then had a short-lived series on NBC called "Michael Nesmith in Television Parts," a spinoff of "Elephant Parts." After his mother sold her patent to the Gillette company for $47 million, he inherited $25 million of it. He had divorced Phyllis and recently divorced his second wife, Kathryn. Altogether, he had 4 children, Christian, Jonathan, Jessica, and Jason. Jason is now in a group called Nancy Boy along with Donavan's son. Scroll down for some Mike links!
Links to other sites on the Web
The Michael Nesmith homepage
The Mike section of The Monkees homepage
Mike's new site where you can buy his stuff
The Tribute to Mike Nesmith
A cool Mike section of a cool Monkee page!
As Mike would say: Save the Texas Prairie Chicken!
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