Davy Jones of The Monkees dies at 66

MANILA, Philippines - The Monkees frontman Davy Jones has passed away at the age of 66 due to heart attack.

The AP reports that Jones was having trouble breathing early in the morning near his Florida home and was brought to a hospital but was soon pronounced dead.

An unidentified woman placed an emergency call Wednesday night, saying "Ambulance, please, hurry!" A fire rescue unit responded and rushed Jones to the hospital, which is 27 miles from his home.

The Manchester-born Jones was already a child star at the age of 11 when he had a role as Ena Sharples' grandson on the soap opera Coronation Street.

He would then become the acclaimed Artful Dodger in the West End production of Oliver! in the 1960s, earning him a Tony Award nomination.

But it was with The Monkees that Jones gained greater fame. The group, which included Michael Nesmith, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork, was put together as a part of an NBC sitcom of the same name and the series lasted two seasons before getting cancelled.

But The Monkees would go on to become a chart-topping act with hits that include "She", "I’m A Believer", "I Wanna Be Free", "I’m Not Your Stepping Stone", "Forget that Girl", "Daydream Believer", "Last Train to Clarkesville", "Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow", "Mary Mary", and many more.

Jones is survived by his wife Jessica Pacheco and four daughters from previous marriages.

Jones was scheduled for a concert in the Philippines in 2009 as part of a Father's Day concert by Ovation Productions at the Araneta Coliseum. It was unfortunately cancelled a week before the day of the concert due to weak public response.

Ovation Productions' Renen de Guia, who expressed sadness over Jones' passing, said that even two weeks prior to the concert, they already considered not going through with it. 

"But we thought sales would pick up and so we gave it a little more time," de Guia said. "I can imagine our cancellation broke his heart. He was actually about to leave for the airport to spend a day in California enroute to Manila. He was based in Florida. He was of course paid in full. Now that he has died, suddenly everybody remembered and appreciated him. They should have expressed that sentiment when he was alive so that we didn’t have to cancel on him."