The Monkees’ Last Surviving Member Releases New Music 60 Years After the Band’s First No. 1 Hit

Six decades after The Monkees became one of the biggest pop sensations of the 1960s, Micky Dolenz is still recording new music. The 81-year-old singer and drummer, now the last surviving member of the original quartet, has released “Waiting For Day,” a new duet with his sister Coco Dolenz.

The song offers another preview of Dolenz’s upcoming six-track EP, TIMELESS, scheduled for release on September 4, 2026. The project arrives during the 60th anniversary year of The Monkees, whose combination of television, comedy and infectious pop songs turned Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith into household names.

Micky Dolenz Releases Waiting For Day

“Waiting For Day” was written by Vicki Peterson, best known as a guitarist and founding member of The Bangles.

For Dolenz, however, the song also became an opportunity to record with someone whose musical connection to him predates The Monkees: his sister Coco.

Dolenz told Rolling Stone that he and Coco have been singing together throughout their lives. He compared their vocal relationship to the kind of close family harmonies associated with the Everly Brothers, explaining that Coco traditionally supplied the higher harmony.

That history gives “Waiting For Day” a particularly personal element despite the song being written by Peterson.

The Song Has a Psychedelic Pop Flavor

Announcing the release, Dolenz described “Waiting For Day” as containing several of the musical qualities he has long enjoyed, including melody, harmony and psychedelic pop influences.

The description feels appropriate for an artist whose career became inseparable from the adventurous pop sounds of the late 1960s.

The Monkees initially became famous through their NBC television series, but their records quickly developed an identity of their own. Dolenz provided lead vocals on several of the group’s best-known recordings, including “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”

Six decades later, TIMELESS allows him to revisit the melodic pop tradition that helped establish his career without simply recreating old Monkees records.

TIMELESS Arrives in September

Dolenz’s official website lists TIMELESS for release on September 4, 2026, with signed and unsigned CD and 180-gram vinyl editions available for preorder.

The six-song collection includes “Terri,” “Any Way You Want Me,” “Something Happened,” “Waiting For Day,” “Where Do the Tears Come From” and “In the Center of My Heart There’s a Force Commonly Known as Love.”

The material comes from an eclectic collection of writers and collaborators connected to bands and artists including The Replacements, XTC, The Bangles and Fountains of Wayne.

The project was produced by Sam Hollander, John Hughes and Pete Donnelly. Hughes previously played an important role in Good Times!, The Monkees’ acclaimed 2016 album celebrating their 50th anniversary.

Terri Offered the First Preview

Before “Waiting For Day,” Dolenz introduced the EP with “Terri,” a song written by Paul Westerberg of The Replacements.

Speaking with Rolling Stone, Dolenz explained his approach to making TIMELESS. Rather than trying to control every technical element of the sessions himself, he placed considerable trust in his producers and collaborators.

That approach follows a tradition that has surrounded Dolenz throughout his recording career: strong songwriters and producers building material around one of pop music’s most recognizable voices.

The EP also includes contributions connected to Andy Partridge, Shelby Lynne, Adam Schlesinger and Jonny Polonsky, giving the compact project an unusually broad songwriting pedigree.

The Monkees Reached No. 1 in 1966

The timing of Dolenz’s new music carries particular historical significance.

The Monkees were assembled in 1965 for the television series of the same name, which premiered on NBC in September 1966. Their debut single, “Last Train to Clarksville,” written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 later that year.

Even greater commercial success followed.

“I’m a Believer,” written by Neil Diamond and sung by Dolenz, became another No. 1 and developed into one of the defining pop records of the era. Other enduring Monkees songs included “Daydream Believer,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday” and “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You.”

Dolenz Is the Last Surviving Monkee

Dolenz now carries that history without his three original bandmates.

Davy Jones died in February 2012 at age 66. Peter Tork died in February 2019 at 77, while Michael Nesmith died in December 2021 at 78.

Nesmith and Dolenz had continued touring together in the years before Nesmith’s death, including a farewell tour in 2021.

Being the last surviving member has understandably brought mixed emotions for Dolenz. In a 2026 interview with AARP, he acknowledged occasionally feeling melancholy but explained that performances incorporating old footage and songs can make it seem as though his former bandmates remain part of the experience.

Dolenz Is Celebrating 60 Years of The Monkees

New music is only one part of Dolenz’s anniversary year.

He has also been performing shows celebrating “60 Years of The Monkees,” continuing to bring the group’s catalog to audiences decades after its original release.

At the same time, TIMELESS demonstrates that his career is not entirely focused on nostalgia. Instead of limiting the anniversary to familiar hits, Dolenz has chosen to record material from several generations of respected songwriters.

That makes “Waiting For Day” more than another reminder of The Monkees’ past.

Sixty years after “Last Train to Clarksville” gave the group its first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, Micky Dolenz remains an active recording artist. As the last surviving member of The Monkees prepares to release TIMELESS, he is simultaneously preserving the music that made him famous and adding something new to a career that has now stretched across seven decades.

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