Davy Jones, a Monkee Until the End
Jones had embarked on a new life with third wife Jessica Pacheco-Jones.
March 1, 2012 — -- Davy Jones didn't slow down in the weeks and months leading up to his death. In early February, the 66-year-old Monkees frontman was smiling, shaking hands, and signing autographs in Burbank, Calif., where he was interviewed by radio host Paul Carafotes.
"He seemed fantastic," Carafotes said. "He was in great spirits, he was charming, upbeat, he was a lovely, personable guy."
Jones had recently started a new chapter in his life with his third wife, 33-year-old Jessica Pacheco-Jones. They fell in love in 2006 after being cast in a children's theater production of "Cinderella."
"She turned to me one day," he told the Daily Mail in May 2011, "and said: 'Let's run upstairs and make love.' I looked at her. 'At my age,' I said, 'it's going to have to be one or the other.'"
PHOTOS: Davy Jones Through the Years
Despite reports about trouble in Jones and Pacheco-Jones' relationship, he maintained that they were only verbally volatile at times, ("Isn't that true of every relationship?" he told the Daily Mail) and their love transcended any argument or age difference. Two of his four daughters, Talia and Sarah, are older than Pacheco-Jones.
"The girls have seen me and Jessie together. They know how much we mean to each other. We're inseparable," he told the Daily Mail. "She regards all of them more as the sisters she never had."
Rumors about his daughters boycotting the wedding swirled at the time of his 2009 marriage. Jones dismissed those, too.
"Don't let the truth get in the way of the news," he said in October 2009, according to the Palm Beach Post. "Our wedding was full of love -- with friends of mine there who I've known for 40 years."
Pacheco-Jones served as a dancer for The Monkees' 2011 reunion tour, which included original band members Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz (whom Jones characterized as "resentful" to the Daily Mail). Before the tour's kickoff, Jones gushed about his wife and career to the Daily Post in Liverpool, England.
"I'm doing great," he said. "I'm doing exactly what I want to do, I'm still riding my horses, I've got beautiful kids and I'm with my lovely wife."
The Monkees played throughout the U.S. and U.K. during the spring of 2011, and were slated to launch a 45-date second leg of the tour during the fall. That was canceled without explanation in August.
Though Jones dabbled in projects without the Monkees, his legacy lies with them.
"The thing that stood out for them was that while their TV show was geared towards a young audience, their music never went away throughout the '70s and '80s and even now," senior Billboard correspondent Phil Gallo said. "On stage, I think that Davy was a Monkee his whole life."
Jones said as much before his 2011 tour.
"And here I am with my buddies," he told the Daily Post. "We're here to play music and I do that all the time, but it's not the same if I'm not with them."