Davy Jones, lead singer of the 1960’s band The Monkees, passed away Wednesday at the age of 66. According to a statement put out by his publicist, the cause of death was a heart attack.

Davy Jones, born in Manchester, England, was a former jockey who quit and became a professional stage actor. Before skyrocketing to fame as the lead singer and heartthrob of The Monkees, Jones appeared in a number of plays and television shows. According to The New York Times, Jones appeared on the popular variety show “The Ed Sullivan Show” before his Monkees fame and was 20 when his first album “David Jones” was released.

The Monkees were a made-for-television band created back in the ‘60s as a response to the success of The Beatles. They became wildly popular even though the band was together for only a few years.

In 1965, Columbia Pictures was looking to start a show patterned after The Beatles film “A Hard Day’s Night.” Mr. Jones, along with Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, ended up in the final roles, and the show became an instant hit. The Monkees also found themselves high on the music charts with songs like “Last Train to Clarksville,” “Daydream Believer,” “I’m A Believer” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone.”

At first, The Monkees were not taken seriously, dismissed as merely a made-for-television group. Even though they all came from acting and musical backgrounds, it wasn’t until further into the show’s success that they were allowed to play their own instruments and write their own songs. The band ended up playing live shows and touring, and the beginning of one 1967 tour featured a then unknown musician named Jimi Hendrix who opened for the group.

By the late 1960’s the band broke up and Davy Jones went on to pursue a solo career. He made appearances on several American television shows including “The Brady Bunch” where he played himself in one of the show’s most popular episodes where Marsha Brady promises she can get him to sing at her school dance.

The 1980’s saw a resurgence of Monkees-mania as reruns of the television show were played on a then brand new television network starved for musical content called MTV. Through MTV the band gained a new audience and by the late 1980’s, Davy Jones along with Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork, were back on the road touring. The band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and by the late 1990’s, the band filmed a special called “Hey, Hey, It’s The Monkees.”

Davy Jones is survived by his wife and four daughters.