the show was about a struggling rock band and starred davy jones, peter tork, michael nesmith and micky dolenz. the t-v show launched these actors into a very successful career as a very real band who scored 10 top 20 hits on the billboard charts. "my parents were both actors and singers. so i was born and raised in the business. the earliest recollections of my father on the set, ya know. so it was the family business." in 1956, dolenz starred in "circus boy" about a kid who gets adopted by a traveling circus owner. when the show ended, dolenz returned to school until 1965, when he got a role in a sitcom about a rock n roll band. "the monkees was a television show about an imaginary band that wanted to bethe beatles. that was the essence, the theme of it. and on the television show, we were never successful." but the t-v band that became a real band was another story. dolenz , who sang and played the guitar *singing was cast as the drummer. "and i said, 'but i'm a guitar player' and they said, 'we have enough guitar players. you're the drummer.' but you know from my point of view this