Michael Nesmith
After leaving the Monkees in 1970, Nesmith continued his successful songwriting and performing career, first with the seminal country rock group the First National Band, with whom he had a top-40 hit, "Joanne" (1970). As a solo artist, he scored an international hit with the song "Rio" (1977). He often played a custom-built Gretsch 12-string electric guitar with the Monkees and afterwards.
In 1974, Nesmith founded Pacific Arts, a multimedia production and distribution company, through which he helped pioneer the music video format, winning the first Grammy Award for Video of the Year for his hour-long comedy/variety program, ''Elephant Parts'' (1981). He created one of the first American television programs dedicated to music videos, ''PopClips'', which aired on Nickelodeon in 1980, and was soon after approached to help develop the MTV network, though he declined. Nesmith was also an executive producer of the film ''Repo Man'' (1984). Provided by Wikipedia