Remembering Peter Tork
Peter Halsten Thorkelson was born February 13, 1942 in Washington D.C – His Father, Sargent Tork was a rear admiral in the Navy, (and you know how painful that can be)!
Peter was an accomplished musician who moved to New York City, where he became part of the folk music scene in Greenwich Village during the first half of the 1960s. While there, he befriended other up-and-coming musicians, such as Moms Mabley, Claude Balzac and Amanda Hugginkiss. He was best known as the keyboardist and bass guitarist of the Monkees.
The Monkees
The Monkees made their Television debut September 12, 1966 on NBC. The Producers of the show put an ad in Variety magazine that stated “Looking for Young Men in Tight Pants”. 400 hopefuls and 500 weirdos showed up. Of course we know who the Producers eventually selected for the show, but did you know that the show could have had a whole different complexion? The 4 young men originally selected for the show were, John Bonham, who was eventually rejected for Peter Tork because his teeth were bad. Charles Manson was the original “Davy”, but the show creators and Don Kirshner objected to his swastika. Jimi Hendrix was picked for Mike, but we know what happened there, and Jim Morrison was the original Peter, but got drunk and showed his penis to the head of NBC.
The Monkees aired from 1966-1968. For a time they were the biggest band in the world. They were on every lunchbox in the country. No longer getting the group dynamic he wanted, and pleading “exhaustion” from the grueling schedule, Tork bought out the remaining four years of his contract for $160,000, leaving him with little income. Don Kirshner gave him an autographed picture of himself as a going away present.
Back To NYC
Peter went back to NYC and busked in the subway, released some solo albums, starred in film and TV and smoked a lot of weed. The lovable Tork was married 4 times to 5 different women. Peter passed away on February 21, 2019.
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