42 Facts About Peter Tork

Peter Halsten Thorkelson, better known by his stage name Peter Tork, was an American musician and actor.

Peter Tork was best known as the bass guitarist and keyboardist of the Monkees and co-star of the NBC television series of the same name.

Peter Tork was the son of Virginia Hope and Halsten John Thorkelson, an economics professor at the University of Connecticut.

Peter Tork began studying piano at the age of nine, showing an aptitude for music by learning to play several different instruments, including the banjo, acoustic bass, and guitar.

Peter Tork attended Windham High School in Willimantic, Connecticut, and was a member of the first graduating class at E O Smith High School in Storrs, Connecticut.

Peter Tork attended Carleton College before he moved to New York City, where he became part of the folk music scene in Greenwich Village during the first half of the 1960s.

Peter Tork was a proficient musician before he joined the Monkees.

Peter Tork subsequently played keyboard, bass guitar, banjo, harpsichord, and other instruments on the band's recordings.

Peter Tork co-wrote, along with Joey Richards, the closing theme song of the second season of The Monkees, "For Pete's Sake".

Peter Tork commented that Davy Jones was a good drummer, and had the live performance lineups been based solely on playing ability, it should have been him on guitar, Nesmith on bass, and Jones on drums, with Micky Dolenz taking the fronting role.

Peter Tork was close to his maternal grandmother, Catherine McGuire Straus, staying with her sometimes during his Greenwich Village days and after he became a Monkee.

Peter Tork was a banjo player from Greenwich Village who was made into an actor and finally decided that he didn't want to be a Marx Brother forever.

Peter Tork's heart was back in the Village, that's all.

Peter Tork's playing was featured in the movie, but not on the official Wonderwall Music soundtrack album released in November 1968.

Peter Tork's brief five-string banjo piece can be heard 16 minutes into the film, as Professor Collins is caught by his mother while spying on his neighbor Penny Lane.

The Release could not secure a record contract, and by 1970, Peter Tork was a solo artist.

Peter Tork sold his house in 1970, and he and a pregnant Reine Stewart moved into the basement of David Crosby's home.

Peter Tork was credited with co-arranging a Dolenz solo single on MGM Records in 1971.

Peter Tork moved to Fairfax in Marin County, California, in the early 1970s, where he joined the 35-voice Fairfax Street Choir and played guitar for a shuffle blues band called Osceola.

Peter Tork returned to southern California in the mid-1970s, where he married, had a son, and took a job teaching at Pacific Hills School in West Hollywood for a year and a half.

Peter Tork spent a total of three years as a teacher of music, social studies, math, French and history, and coached baseball at several schools.

Between 1982 and 1985 Micky and Peter Tork came on the Howard Stern afternoon show on WNBC to play Mystery Guest, Peter Tork played Inventions in F Major on a casio keyboard.

Peter Tork returned to the film world in 2017 in the horror movie I Filmed Your Death, written and directed by Sam Bahre.

Peter Tork recorded the second set of demos in New York City, but little is known about these recordings, other than one track was another version of "Pleasant Valley Sunday" featuring an unknown rock band and a violin solo.

Peter Tork performed comedy bits and lip-synced the Sire recordings.

Floyd claimed Peter Tork was the "first real star" to appear on the show.

In 1981, Peter Tork released the single " Steppin' Stone" with the New Monks.

Peter Tork did some club performances and live television appearances, including taking part in a "Win a Date With Peter Tork" bit on Late Night with David Letterman in July 1982.

In 1986, after a 1985 tour with Jones in Australia, Peter Tork rejoined fellow Monkees Jones and Dolenz for a highly successful 20th-anniversary reunion tour.

In 2001, Peter Tork took time out from touring to appear in a leading role in the short film Mixed Signals, written and directed by John Graziano.

In 2002, Peter Tork resumed working with his band Shoe Suede Blues.

Peter Tork had a pair of appearances in the role of Topanga Lawrence's father Jedidiah Lawrence on the sitcom Boy Meets World.

Peter Tork was again cast as Jedidiah Lawrence, while Jones was Reginald Fairfield, and Dolenz's character was Gordy.

In 2012, Peter Tork joined Dolenz and Nesmith on a Monkees tour in honor of the 45th anniversary of their album Headquarters, as well as in tribute to the late Jones.

In 2016, Peter Tork toured with Dolenz as the Monkees, in what would be his final tour before his death in 2019.

Peter Tork was married four times, with marriages to Jody Babb, Reine Stewart, and Barbara Iannoli, all ending in divorce.

Peter Tork had three children: a daughter, Hallie, with Stewart; a son, Ivan, with Iannoli; and another daughter, Erica, from a previous relationship with Tammy Sestak.

On March 3,2009, Peter Tork reported on his website that he had been diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare, slow-growing form of head and neck cancer.

On March 4,2009, Peter Tork underwent surgery in New York City.

On June 11,2009, a spokesman for Peter Tork reported that his cancer had returned.

Peter Tork documented his cancer experience on Facebook and encouraged his fans to support research efforts of the Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation.

Peter Tork's cancer returned in 2018, and he died at his home in Willimantic, Connecticut, on February 21,2019.