Peter Tork Trivia

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Taught algebra and coached baseball at a private school in the late 1970s; also worked as a singing waiter. Said later he'd have been pleased to join Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones in their reunion with Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, had they asked. (imdb.com)

Tork and his grandmother were close; when he became a Monkee, "Grams" was one of his staunchest supporters, running a fan club for him, keeping a huge scrap book on The Monkees and checking local record stores to see that they kept Monkees records in stock. (imdb.com)

Was actually the first Monkee to play an instrument on one of their records ("Papa Gene's Blues"), after writer/producer Michael Nesmith insisted Peter be allowed to add a guitar part. (imdb.com)

Declined an invitation to rejoin The Monkees for a McDonald's TV commercial, as he is a vegetarian (Michael Nesmith also declined, because there was no promise of further work). (imdb.com)

While with The Monkees, Tork was involved in the group's most famous musical outtake, "Lady's Baby," a song released in 1995 as a bonus track on the reissue of the group's fifth LP, and inspired by Karen Harvey Hammer, the wife of his business partner Bob Hammer. The Hammers had an infant son, Justin. Peter insisted on getting the cooing of little Justin recorded for use on "Lady's Baby," which required following the baby around the studio with a microphone. Peter's use of baby cooing on a pop album predated by some 30 years the practice later incorporated by country beauties Martina McBride and Sara Evans, who used the cooing of their own children on some of their songs. (imdb.com)

Peter and his close friend James Lee Stanley have released two CDs of their music. Among the songs used is a cover of "Pleasant Valley Sunday." (imdb.com)

Peter has a daughter named Hallie Elizabeth (b. 25 January 1970) with Reine Stewart) and a son named Ivan Joseph (b. 22 December 1975) with Barbara Iannoli) and a daughter Erica Marie (b. 15 June 1997) by an unknown girlfriend) (imdb.com)

When Stephen Stills was turned down by "The Monkees" (1966) producers because his teeth were crooked and his hair was falling out, he recommended a local folk musician who looked like him named Peter Tork. (imdb.com)

The most accomplished musician of The Monkees, Tork plays 12 different instruments; his choice "depends on what kind of music I'm playing." While producers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart admired Tork's playing, he was almost never given lead vocals on the Monkees' records) box-set and CD bonus tracks from the 1980s and 1990s include several rarely-heard Tork songs and vocals). (imdb.com)