Surviving Monkees May Not Attend Davy Jones' Funeral

USMagazine, Wednesday, March 7, 2012, 8:00am (PST)

The late Davy Jones' bandmates want to ensure that his family will get to mourn him privately.

But in order for that to happen, they won't be attending his funeral services.

"My understanding is they want to avoid a media circus and...the family wants to keep it very, very low-key and very, very private," Monkee Micky Dolenz, 66, tells Billboard.com. "And you can imagine as soon as one or two or any of us were to show up, it would very quickly be degraded into something that I don't think his immediate family would want to deal with. So I'm kind of respecting their wishes, whatever their wishes may be."

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So, in the meantime, the Monkees (Dolenz, Peter Tork, 70, and Michael Nesmith, 69) will have to mourn their friend at either of the public memorials that are scheduled to be held in both NYC and the U.K.

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On February 29, Jones died of a heart attack in Stuart, Florida at the age of 66. The "Daydream Believer" singer is survived by wife Jessica and four daughters from previous marriages.

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"I know Davy was very happy to be a part of all of this…He wanted nothing more than to be an entertainer. And to help people enjoy time," Tork said on the Today show earlier this month. "Davy Jones was one of the most gifted, talented, musical, soulful, able people I have ever met. That was all there is to it."

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