‘The Monkees’: Micky Dolenz’s ‘Darling Little Sister’ Took the Cover Photo for Their 2020 Live Album
A 2020 video featuring Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith of The Monkees revealed that Dolenz’s sister had unknowingly captured the photo used for the cover of their live album.
The duo recorded The Monkees Live: The Mike and Micky Show while on tour in 2019, marking the band’s first performances after Peter Tork died in February 2019. They released the record the following year with an album cover spotlighting their time on tour.
Micky Dolenz gave sister Coco a shoutout for nailing ‘The Monkees’ album cover
During a COVID-friendly sit-down with the two surviving members of The Monkees at the time, fans got to ask the questions on “Live Q&A with Micky and Mike!” While thanking those involved, the drummer and vocalist revealed that his sister Coco had unknowingly taken the photo they used on their live album’s cover from a backstage area.
“I’m very proud of the album. And I gotta give a shoutout to my sister Coco who inadvertently… took the photo from her cell phone, which became the cover of the album… I love it. To me, it just screams ‘live’ and ‘exciting.’ And I love it because it’s about the audience, not necessarily about us. Which is what a live show is all about.”
Micky Dolenz didn’t realize his sister had taken the photo
Coco took the photo from behind the stage. So while it shows Nesmith and Dolenz performing, it’s also a great shot of the audience. Dolenz also admitted that he didn’t realize his sister’s image made the album cover.
“When I first saw it, I didn’t know it was her,” he said. “I actually thought it was John Billings [the band’s bassist] because that’s kind of where he is also placed on the stage, and he’s always taking photos.”
However, the album cover was hardly Coco’s claim to fame. She frequently spent time on The Monkees TV show set and sang background vocals on several of the band’s records. These days, you can catch her on tour performing as part of Dolenz’s backup band.
Dolenz and his famous parents lived on a chicken ranch
Despite being raised by actors George Dolenz and Janelle Johnson, Dolenz, and his three sisters didn’t grow up in Hollywood.
He described his childhood in an interview with The Guardian, saying: “I had a rural childhood in the San Fernando Valley. I was born on a chicken ranch and grew up mucking out the horses. I would visit my father on set (I thought everyone’s dad was an actor), but if my friends asked what my father did, I said, ‘mow the lawn’ because 90% of the time he wasn’t acting.”
The musician got his start in show business on ‘Circus Boy’
Before becoming a Monkee, Dolenz appeared on the children’s television show Circus Boy. The audition that kicked off his career almost didn’t happen, though.
“When I was 10,” he recalled, “my mother told me there was an audition for a show called Circus Boy and asked if I’d like to go. I remember saying no at first — I had a baseball game.”
It’s safe to say that the audition was the better choice! Unfortunately, Circus Boy lasted only two seasons on the air, after which Dolenz was thrown back into normalcy. His parents put him back in public school, which he expressed “was probably the best thing they ever did.”
Micky Dolenz still mourns the deaths of his ‘The Monkees’ bandmates
Now the only surviving member of The Monkees, Dolenz does his best to keep the band’s legacy alive. He will honor his bandmates in an upcoming tour, but has admitted he still struggles to accept that they’re gone.
He acknowledged this while talking to The Mirror. “I don’t think I’ve really processed it yet, because I lost all three of my partners in a relatively short period… Maybe I’m still going through a denial stage. Sometimes you think, ‘Oh I gotta give that person a call,’ then you realize they’re not there anymore. It’s very strange.”
The Monkees Live: The Mike and Micky Show was the last album featuring Nesmith before his death in December 2021. Losing people over the years encouraged Dolenz to focus more on his health. In the same interview, he mentioned that he does yoga daily and is more selective about the gigs he takes.
