Micky Dolenz, Last Monkee Standing, on Saying Goodbye to Michael Nesmith: ‘I Think We Both Kind of Avoided It’

Music and television icon Micky Dolenz revealed he and Michael Nesmith “both kind of avoided” saying goodbye the last time they saw each other. Nesmith was the second to last remaining Monkee, and he died shortly after he and Dolenz played their final show.

Nesmith’s death didn’t “come as a great surprise” to Dolenz, but he noted the loss of another member came “right out of the blue.” And, after losing his three bandmates over a decade, he’s still working through the fact that he’s the last Monkee standing.

Micky Dolenz is ‘still kind of processing … being the last man standing’ after Michael Nesmith died in 2021

In December 2021, Nesmith died of heart failure at 78. And Dolenz said the death of his friend “did not come as a great surprise, frankly,” explaining, “It was public knowledge that Nez had some health issues, some pretty serious ones, a couple years before.”

“It was pretty apparent that I wouldn’t be doing many more shows with him,” he added (per AZ Central). “You can tell from the videos he was struggling at times. Health-wise.”

Dolenz might have been somewhat prepared for Nesmith’s death, but he hasn’t gotten entirely used to being the only surviving Monkee. “I think I’m still kind of processing it, to some degree,” he shared. “Being the last man standing.”

Micky Dolenz said he and Michael Nesmith ‘both kind of avoided’ saying goodbye

Nesmith’s death came less than a month after he and Dolenz played their final concert on the Monkees Farewell Tour and closed by performing “I’m a Believer.”

Dolenz shared that Nesmith chose to keep pushing through the tour despite his deteriorating health. “We were doing everything we could to make him comfortable,” he noted (AZ Central). “But it was tough. And it was bittersweet.” 

He added, “We asked him, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ And I’ve got to hand it to him. He hung in there.”

And when it came time to say goodbye after that final show, Dolenz revealed that he and Nesmith “both kind of avoided it.”

Micky Dolenz said Davy Jones’ death came ‘right out of the blue’

While Nesmith’s death wasn’t a “great surprise” to Dolenz considering his friend’s health history, that wasn’t the case when Davy Jones died of a heart attack in 2012. “That was right out of the blue …,” Dolenz said (per AZ Central).

He noted, “He was the youngest one of all of us, and he was in pretty good health, supposedly. But they missed something. So that was a huge shock.”

After Jones, Peter Tork died in 2019 at 77 after being diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma. Dolenz paid tribute on Facebook and said he was “heartbroken” over the loss of his “Monkee brother” (per Billboard).

At the time, Nesmith shared, “Even though I am clinging to the idea that we all continue, the pain that attends these passings has no cure.”