Best known as the drummer of The Monkees, George Michael Dolenz Jr. - aka Micky - has fashioned a long-lasting and diversified career in show business. The son of actor George Dolenz, Micky, with American Indian and Yugoslavian blood in his heritage, took to acting as a boy, earning great success in the 1950s with Circus Boy. Though he continued to act with the show's end, he focused more on college studies, his most passionate interest being architecture. He also delved into singing, performing in LA-area clubs with a band called Micky & The One-Nighters as well as with a band called Missing Links; among those who saw Micky in action was Michael Nesmith.

Micky auditioned for The Monkees TV series in 1965, and on the strength of his audition won a role and became the group's designated crazy one. Assigned as a drummer, Micky worked to learn the instrument well enough to bluff his way through filming. He was also initially welcome to the musical guidance of Don Kirshner, but as Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork grew more openly rebellious of the restrictions imposed, Micky, who could be hotheaded, quickly sided with his bandmates, and when the group began touring for real in late 1966 Micky learned drumming to pull off concerts.

It all led to the group's famous break with Kirshner and the resulting creation of the album Headquarters. Though Micky's drumming was called unsteady, in fact outtakes showed that Micky's command of the instrument was quite solid, particularly on the many spontaneous jams Mike, Peter, and Davy Jones performed with the likes of John London. Despite that, though, Micky relinquished drumming to studio pros like "Fast Eddie" Ho for subsequent tracks. It was his superb voice, in any event, that was his greatest asset with the group. Whether in lead or in harmony with the others, Micky's voice made the group all the stronger; he was particularly effective in harmony with Mike Nesmith; "We always had a great combination", he said in 1990, and indeed, few singing tandems, then or now, compare as well as the tandem of Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith.

With the eventual break-up of The Monkees, Micky's career floundered for a few years (aggravated by substance abuse), despite good work in cartoon voiceover roles and touring with Davy Jones, Tommy Boyce, and Bobby Hart in the middle of the 1970s. His breakthrough came when he moved to London and began to direct, a trade he first began with The Monkees TV series. Micky stayed in London for many years and honed his directorial skills before returning to the US.

Micky has since toured repeatedly with The Monkees (even to returning to the drums for the full foursome's return LP "Justus"), directed television ads and other films, done additional voiceover work, guest-starred in such TV series as Mike Hammer, and even submitted full-color artwork for public witness. He has also seen the wedding of his actress daughter Ami Dolenz in 2002; Micky and his sister Coco, a priestess and accomplished singer in her own right, performed at the ceremony with such numbers as a perennial Micky favorite "Bye Bye Blackbird." His autobiography aptly sums up his life in showbiz - he is a survivor.


"The Monkees" (1966): $450/episode

Auditioned for the role of Fonzie on "Happy Days" (1974). He appeared in the music video and sang in the choir on the song "Voices That Care." Son of actor George Dolenz Owned the third Moog Synthesizer ever commercially sold (the first two belonged to Wendy Carlos and Buck Owens); his performance on The Monkees song "Daily Nightly" (written by Michael Nesmith) was the first use of a synthesizer on a rock recording. He eventually sold his instrument to Bobby Sherman. When chosen for the role of The Monkees' drummer, he signed up for daily drum lessons in order to fake playing them well enough for the cameras. When being able to actually play became crucial to the Monkees project, he had gotten to the point where he could carry off a stage show, but playing drums and holding tempo proved difficult in the recording studio. He played drums on every track of their "Headquarters" album, but gladly relinquished the role to studio drummers for their later albums. Received his draft notice for the U.S. Army in 1967 (as did Davy Jones); despite medical grounds for deferment (trouble with Perthese disease since childhood left him with one leg shorter than the other), Dolenz was told, "Don't worry, we'll only make you fight on hillsides." He was eventually excused from military service for being underweight, when he went for his physical (Jones was also excused, as his family's only source of support). Continued singing on records after "The Monkees" (1966) ended, with a series of singles contracts for labels like MGM; many of the records were made at his own home studio. While they usually found critical praise, none became hits. Dolenz also found work doing voiceovers for cartoons, like "The Funky Phantom" (1971) and "Devlin" (1974). Renewed his friendship with singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson, who'd written for The Monkees, in the mid-1970s; Dolenz occasionally joined Nilsson and John Lennon in their legendary "nights out" (which sometimes lasted several days). Later Dolenz and Davy Jones appeared on the London stage in an adaptation of Nilsson's The Point (1971) (TV). Quit the re-formed The Monkees briefly at the end of the 1980s, citing problems with clashing egos and ideas, but returned for their next tour. He wore a wig during the first season of "The Monkees" (1966). His hair was naturally wavy and did not fit the image of the other three Monkees, which was straight. He would wet his hair down before each day of shooting and put on a mop-top, straight-haired wig. When The Monkees assumed a free-form image during the second season, he stopped wearing the wig, and sported the "Afro" look. He is the morning radio deejay on New York City's Oldies Station WCBS FM. He was released with all the other disc jockeys in June 2005 from New York City's WCBS-FM, due to a format change. Owns and rides a 1967 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle. He and Samantha Juste remain extremely close friends.