Peter Tork, the bassist for 1960s rock favorites the Monkees, is dead at 77.
Tork’s Monkees bandmate Micky Dolenz confirmed the news on Twitter, writing, “There are no words right now…heart broken over the loss of my Monkee brother, Peter Tork.”
Tork’s cause of death is not yet public, though he was diagnosed with a rare tongue cancer, adenoid cystic carcinoma, in 2009.
Along with Davy Jones, Dolenz and Michael Nesmith, Tork was a founding member of the Monkees, a fictitious pop group that was formed for the television sitcom of the same name that aired from 1966-1968. With hits including “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer” and “Daydream Believer,” the Monkees were one of the highest-charting acts of the late ’60s.
Jones died in 2012.
Tork left the group and TV show in 1968, teaming back up with Jones and Dolenz in 1986 for a successful 20th anniversary tour. In the years after, Tork mostly played with his groups Peter Tork Project and Shoe Suede Blues.
In 2016, the surviving Monkees released “Good Times!,” their first album in 20 years. A Monkees Christmas album in 2019 featured Tork in a solo cover of “Angels We Have Heard on High.”
