(KNX 1070) - Peter Tork, a member of The Monkees, has died.
He was 77. His sister confirmed the news Thursday but did not say how he died.
Tork was the bass player in the Monkees, the made-for-TV group that took the music world by storm in the 1960s. K-Earth 101 morning host and pop expert Gary Bryan tells KNX he had a special place in the group.
"Peter Tork was, sort of in a way, the Ringo of the Monkees. He was the good-natured, sort of fall guy. That was the persona he had on the TV show. In real life, he was much more of a serious musician and maybe the most serious musician in the group," Bryan said.
Tork was part of the band that, in addition to trying to imitate the Beatles' success, also included bandmembers Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Micky Dolenz.
The Monkees were part of a sitcom with the same name that premiered in 1966 and covered a lot of songs, including Neil Diamond's "Little Bit Me, Little Bit You."
Tork was diagnosed in 2009 with a rare tongue cancer.