Born in Manchester, England, to a railway fitter father and a homemaker mother, David "Davy" Jones grew up as the sole boy among four siblings that included three sisters. Early on he displayed a flair for performance, making his stage debut in a production of Tom Sawyer. Following his mother's 1960 death from emphysema, he abandoned his studies, left home, and set his sights on becoming a jockey.
While apprenticed to Basil Foster, Jones found his mentor urging him toward acting and singing instead. That encouragement led to television roles in Coronation Street and June Evening plus a BBC radio appearance in There Is a Happy Land. Additional stage work in the London and Broadway casts of Oliver! and a spot on The Ed Sullivan Show prompted Colpix Records/Columbia Pictures to offer him a contract; at twenty he released his debut album, the simply titled David Jones.
When The Monkees premiered in September 1966, Jones joined Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, and Michael Nesmith in weekly visits to countless living rooms. Across nine albums he supplied lead vocals on hits such as "Daydream Believer," "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You," and "Valleri." Although the series endeared itself chiefly to teenage girls, it left the air in 1968.
After the group dissolved, Jones launched a solo career on Bell Records, issuing several singles and completing two tours of Japan before moving to MGM in 1973. Guest spots on The Brady Bunch and Love American Style followed. In the mid-seventies he collaborated with songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart plus fellow ex-Monkee Dolenz on an album and subsequent tour. Early in the eighties he performed with the band Toast during extensive Japanese engagements.
MTV and Nickelodeon revivals of the Monkees prompted Jones, Dolenz, and Tork to reconvene for the album Pool It! and a Christmas medley video. The trio marked the show's twentieth anniversary with a 1986 tour and regrouped for another trek in 1989. Adding Michael Nesmith, the foursome delivered the reunion album Justus in 1996.
Throughout the nineties Jones balanced sporadic Monkees activity with solo recordings and theater work, headlining productions of Oliver! and Grease. His passion for racing endured; in 1996 he claimed his first amateur victory at Lingfield, England. By then a Pennsylvania resident, he published the memoirs They Made a Monkee Out of Me and They Made a Monkee Out of Me...Again!, chronicling his Monkees years, family life, marriages, and touring adventures. Late-decade television appearances included The Single Guy and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
In 1999 Jones assembled four volumes of demos, outtakes, and rarities under the title Just for the Record. After the millennium he issued the independent albums Just Me in 2001 and Just Me 2 in 2004. The standards collection She, featuring "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?," appeared in 2009. Just over two years later, on February 29, 2012, he suffered a fatal heart attack at his home.
