Bobby Hart, Co-Songwriter For The Monkees, Has Passed Away
Image Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Bobby Hart, the other half of the Boyce and Hart songwriting team behind The Monkees, in addition to having hits on their own, passed away on September 10th at age 86. His wife, MaryAnn, confirmed his death and said the singer-songwriter passed after a long illness.
Born Robert Luke Harshman on August 18th, 1939, in Phoenix, Arizona, his father was a minister, and he served in the army after high school. When he was discharged, Hart moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a singer. At the same time, Tommy Boyce was beginning his career as a songwriter, finding early success with Fats Domino’s “Be My Guest” and as a co-writer for Curtis Lee’s hits “Pretty Little Angel Eyes” and “Under the Moon of Love.” The duo met in 1959, and Boyce played guitar on Hart’s single, “Girl in the Window.” Though the song flopped, it marked the first time that Hart used the Bobby Hart stage name, as his manager shortened Harshman to fit on the label.
The duo made a breakthrough with the song “Lazy Elsie Molly,” which was recorded by Chubby Checker in 1964. They went on to write songs for groups such as Jay and the Americans, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and The Leaves. Boyce and Hart also wrote the theme song for the soap opera, Days of Our Lives.
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Image Source: Smithsonian Magazine
What truly put them on the map, however, was the made-for-TV band The Monkees. In 1965, Boyce and Hart composed and produced the soundtrack for the pilot of The Monkees television show, which included them singing on the theme song. Once the pilot was picked up as a series on NBC, vocal duties were mostly picked up by band members Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork, but Boyce and Hart often supplied backing vocals, and their backing band, The Candy Store Prophets, played on several Monkees records.
Boyce and Hart wrote many of the group’s early hits, including “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I Wanna Be Free,” “(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone,” “Words,” and “(Theme from) The Monkees. Though they were relieved by producer Don Kirshner around the time The Monkees started having more control in the studio, there were certainly no hard feelings between the songwriting duo and the group, with Davy Jones even inviting them onstage and introducing them as “the fellows who wrote our great hits — Tommy and Bobby!”
Image Source: YouTube
Outside of writing for other artists, the duo enjoyed moderate success as performers in their own right, with their single “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight” reaching number eight on the charts. Boyce and Hart also appeared on several 60s TV shows, including Bewitched, The Flying Nun, and I Dream of Jeannie. All of these appearances featured them performing their own music as well. The duo even reunited with Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones in the mid to late 70s as Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart. They performed in amusement parks and other mid-sized venues around the nation and were also the first American group to perform in Thailand. Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart released one eponymous album together. In 1980, Bobby Hart released his first solo album, appropriately titled The First Bobby Hart Solo Album.
Sadly, Tommy Boyce took his own life in 1994 at age 55. Bobby Hart continued to be active as an artist throughout his life. He released a book in May 2015, titled Psychedelic Bubble Gum: Boyce & Hart, The Monkees, and Turning Mayhem into Miracles. Hart even contributed backing vocals and organ on the song “Whatever’s Right” on The Monkees’ 2016 album, Good Times!. He was also very spiritual, publishing two books on his spiritual practices titled Yoga and Your Hidden Soul Power: A New Path to Love, Happiness, and Abundance Using Yoga’s Ancient Niyama Wisdom and Autobiography of a Yogi. Hart was an advocate for Kriya Yoga and the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, and he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship.
Micky Dolenz, the last living member of the band, paid tribute to Hart, saying in an Instagram post: “Another great is gone. Bobby Hart, who, along with Tommy Boyce, penned and produced some of The Monkees’ greatest hits, not only made a vital contribution to the popular success of The Monkees, but even more importantly, to the essence, the very spirit of the entire venture.
"His talent, charisma, good humor, and calmness in the face of what at times was nothing less than a maniacal roller coaster ride often brought a sense of peace that heartened everyone around him. He was the stillness that is the eye of the hurricane.
Rest in peace, Bobby.”
Hart is survived by his wife, MaryAnn, his sons Bret and Bobby Jr., several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and his sisters Deborah and Rebecca. The family will have a private memorial service, with a public celebration of life to be held in the Spring of 2026.
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Sources: Instagram, [1], [2], Variety, Associated Press
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