For the Monkees frontman Davy Jones, it wasn't always about the spotlight.
As the world mourn the singer's sudden death, we can reflect back on conversations about his career, his fame and whether he planned to get back with his former bandmates in this True Hollywood Story flashback.
For Jones, it all started with a desire to race horses.
"I'd done some radio and TV early on as a 12, 13-year-old back in the late '50s," Jones told E!. "And I had an opportunity at that particular point of carrying on, but just as all young kids do, I decided to go somewhere else."
Considering his stature, Davy headed to the track.
"Being shorter than most, I decided I should take up horse racing…some owners came by and they happen to be theatrical agents and they thought I was quite animated. So they took me up to London and I auditioned for the part of Artful Dodger in Oliver."
From there it was goodbye London, hello America.
Jones started his Broadway debut, which ultimately led to signing a long-term deal with Columbia Pictures and scoring a spot on The Monkees without even having to audition.
Yup, just like that.
While we admired the actor and singer on our television sets, Jones admitted that being in the public eye wasn't his ultimate goal.
Once The Monkees went off-air, Jones continued to perform solo, with his bandmates and even alongside fellow Monkee Micky Dolenz and songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart as a short-lived group called Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart.
"I believe The Monkees, as far as a live band or ever performing together—it will never happen again," he told E! News.
And when all that was said and done, Davy returned to his first love—horses—by becoming a registered jockey.
"I fulfilled that dream, but I do believe if I had pursued it, that I would have been a world-class jockey," Jones explained. "I don't regret having been in The Monkees or been in show business, but I wish it would have gone the other way, because I'm a very private person who became a very public person, which is a very large contradiction to who I am. Who knows what's going to happen in the future, but I can assure you, there'll be no more Monkees for me."