Gave up taking the "A" side of the first single actually performed by The Monkees, instead choosing friend Bill Martin's song "All Of Your Toys", which Nesmith believed would be a bigger hit. A publishing snag kept "Toys" from being released (until the late 1980s), but Nesmith's "B" side, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", backed their next single - Neil Diamond's "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You".

Was the only Monkee who'd actually seen the initial trades ad for the show's casting.

Michael's mother, Bette Nesmith, invented Liquid Paper.

He has an on line store called videoranch.com that allows customers to buy his works straight from him. Products include CDs, DVDs, and music downloads.

He was was invited to the famous orchestral session for "A Day In The Life" by John Lennon.

During the 1980s he built up the largest non-theatrical home video catalog in the world called Pacific Arts Corporation. It owned rights to everything from Koyaanisqatsi (1982) to "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" (1966) to Ken Burns _"Civil War, The" (1990) (mini)_. Pacific Arts licensed the right to use the PBS logo on the titles in its catalog which had been aired on PBS, and developed the PBS Home Video label. The venture ended in a lawsuit with PBS that resulted in a six-week trial in federal court. A jury unanimously found PBS liable for intentional misrepresentation, intentional concealment, negligent misrepresentation, intentional interference with Pac Arts' contractual relations with the program producers and in breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. They awarded Pacific Arts and Nesmith real and punitive damages totaling more than $47,000,000. PBS and Nesmith subsequently settled for an undisclosed sum.

Invented the idea for what became MTV. Sold the idea to Time-Warner and created a proof of concept for 24 hour music television in the form of 6 half hour shows called "Pop Clips". Time-Warner aired Popclips on Nickelodeon Channel for testing and it was an instant hit. Nesmith moved on to other projects after the testing phase as he did not wish to be involved in managing a television network.

11:59am-CWT

Shares a birthday with fellow Monkee Davy Jones.

Had published several songs through different companies before signing his contracts for The Monkees; Nesmith's "Mary, Mary" had already been a hit for the Butterfield Blues Band. With Nesmith signed to Screen Gems as a songwriter, the company next bought up Nesmith's earlier publishing, so his songs could be used for the Monkees.

His first professional recording (under the pseudonym "Michael Blessing") was a folk music single entitled "What Seems To Be the Problem, Officer?"

Elephant Parts won the first Grammy for a video record.

Arrived for his first interview for The Monkees wearing a wool cap, to keep the hair out of his eyes while driving his motorcycle around town (Nesmith also carried a bag of laundry, to be done at a nearby laundromat on his way home). Producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider remembered him as "Wool Hat"; they wanted to name his Monkees character that, but Nesmith refused.

Penned the Stone Poneys' hit "Different Drum." Linda Ronstadt sang the lead.

Was often referred to by The Monkees staff as "Wool Hat".

Inherited half his mother's $50 million estate from the sale of Liquid Paper; the rest finances a private "think tank".

He has four kids: Christian, Jonathan, Jason, and Jessica.

Continues to be active in all media including video games, on line delivery of media, and is an avid golfer.

Had actually been "labelmates" with Davy Jones earlier, as both were signed to the Colpix Records label (Nesmith recorded as "Michael Blessing"), though they'd apparently never met. While Jones had released a modestly successful LP and single by 1965, Nesmith's two singles hadn't gotten far past the promotional stage. The Colpix label (belonging to Columbia Pictures, and controlled by Screen Gems) was dissolved in 1966, to make way for the new Colgems label--with The Monkees as its centerpiece.

Michael spent fourteen months in the U.S. Air Force where he tipped over a general's airplane while cleaning it.