Davy Jones, who gained fame as a member of the music group The Monkees and star of the TV show for which they were created, passed away Wednesday, February 29, 2012 from a heart attack at age 66.

Teamed with fellow actor Mickey Dolenz and musicians Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith, Jones and his band mates managed to transcend the pre-fab circumstances which brought them together and develop a genuine following that lasted decades. In various forms they reunited over the years and toured extensively.

“David Thomas Jones was born on Dec. 30, 1945, in Manchester, England. A child actor, he appeared on Coronation Street, the British soap opera that went on the air in 1960 and is still running, and in the police drama Z Cars. After his mother’s death when he was a teenager, he abandoned acting. Slight of build — he stood not much more than 5 feet tall in his prime — he began to train as a jockey,” The New York Times reported. “Lured back into the theater a few years later, he played the Artful Dodger in the West End musical “Oliver!” When the production moved to Broadway in 1963, he reprised the role (billed as David Jones), earning a Tony nomination as best featured actor in a musical.”

“Jones rocketed to stardom in the 1960s as a member of The Monkees, a made-for-TV rock band patterned after the Beatles. Though the television show lasted just two years and the group ultimately broke up, they have endured with such chart-topping hits as ‘I'm a Believer’ and ‘Daydream Believer,’” CBS reported.