Samantha Juste Dolenz





Samantha Dolenz was born Sandra Slater on May 31, 1944 in Manchester, England. Sandra was a teen model and originally wanted to be known as just "Samantha" (perhaps she took her cue from Cher?) Anyway, she compromised and became Samantha Juste. Besides modeling, Samantha became a familiar face to teenagers in England by being the disc girl on Top of the Pops in 1964 (she remained the disc girl for more than 3 1/2 years). Top of the Pops was the biggest and best teen music show in England, and during her time on there, she became known as just "Sammy" to her legions of fans.

Besides just playing the records of other artists, 1965 & 1966 saw Samantha embark on her own (and very brief) musical career. Her tunes, including her most popular song, "That's Nice", as well as "No One Needs My Love Today", and "If Trees Could Talk" were released on Strike Records in the 1960s and can still be found on compilations today, such as the popular Dream Babes compilation. Her voice isn't too bad, either!

Being the disc girl on a popular music show also turned out to be useful, especially in dating famous rock stars. During her time on the show, she met such famous names as The Hollies, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and in February 1967, Mike Nesmith & Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, who were the BIGGEST band in the world at that point.

And right when Micky laid eyes on the tall, blonde, leggy beauty, it was lust at first site (as he describes in his autobio...the two of them apparently got real friendly the night they met). At the time she met Micky, Samantha was dating (or engaged) to this dude named Paul Ryan, who apparently was a British musician. I have a picture of him somewhere. But Samantha made the smart choice and dumped that Paul dude for Micky. I mean come on, Micky was one of the three most eligible guys in the whole universe. Who could say no?

So yeah, Micky and Samantha fell head over heels in love. Unlike Davy, Micky made his relationship with Sammy known to the Monkees' fans right from the start, Teen Magazines, however, didn't always present the information accurately. In "16" Sammy was described as The Monkees' "friend" from London, and as someone that Micky once "dated" (past tense). In Tiger Beat, however, she started out as being a girl that Micky occaisionally dated, but then after many months, it was made clear that they were indeed TOGETHER.

And they were. Months after meeting, Samantha gave up her prestigious job on Top and the Pops and moved to California to move in with Micky, and the two quickly began throwing rounds and rounds of parties for all of the "in" crowd in the Hollywood Hills. By early 1968, Samantha was pregnant. So obviously they had to get married.



And they did, on June 12, 1968. She was already a few months pregnant (and obviously so, as the pictures show). So yeah, their only daughter Ami Bluebell Dolenz was born on January 8, 1969. Interestingly enough, Ami today looks almost exactly like Samantha. Seriously folks, it's erie.




Their storybook romance continued on through the first part of the 1970s. Samantha had always loved sewing and fashion and started up a boutique in California with fellow Monkee Wife Phyllis Nesmith. By this point, The Monkees fame was nil, and Micky took to handling his Former Teen Idol status by partying like it was going out of style. He was hanging with perpetual party animal Harry Nilsson, and the likes of Brian Wilson, Ringo Starr, Alice Cooper, John Lennon, Henry Diltz, Elliot Mintz, and apparently O.J Simpson (hey, I have photographic evidence of this). He talks frankly in his book about getting completely wasted and ending up at Don Johnson's house and things like that. He was wild. And apparently Micky was naughty (like Nez) and decided to screw up his marriage by having an affair (you can see the possible girls he had affairs with here (the girls at the bottom....). So anyway, obviously Samantha had to leave him and she took Ami with her.

I don't know what happened to Samantha in the 70s and the 80s. Sorry. But moving onto the 90s.....

Samantha and Micky reconciled and became friends again. In the mid 90s Samantha developed breast cancer. She had surgery and radiation treatments, and is thankfully doing ok now. She also has done some public relations & charity work, and hopes to have her own lifestyles type television show (think Martha Stewart). She, Ami, & Micky completed a pilot of a show a bit like that concept in the early 2000s. Aww. cute. Samantha has also recently appeared on The Monkees' E! True Hollywood Story, and the VH1 Behind The Music.


Currently, Samantha and Ami run an ebay store called Bluebell Boutique which sells designer vintage jewelry.


--Click HERE to listen to two samples of Samantha's songs, "No One Needs My Love Today" and "If Trees Could Talk" from a UK compilation.--


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