Prolific Songwriter and Producer Bobby Hart is Dead at 86

Half of the Boyce & Hart Songwriting team which Helped Launch the Monkees to Stardom

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, September 23, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The iconic musician, songwriter, and producer, Bobby Hart died on September 10, 2025 at his home in Los Angeles, CA. He was 86 and had been in poor health since breaking his hip last year. As part of the songwriting team Boyce & Hart—in collaboration with his writing partner Tommy Boyce—Bobby Hart composed many of the most recognizable pop songs of the 1960s, and was instrumental to the massive success of the made-for-television pop group, the Monkees.

During their work with the Monkees, Boyce & Hart composed numerous hits, including “Last Train to Clarksville,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” and “(Theme From) The Monkees”—AKA “Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees.”

In 2015, SelectBooks published Bobby Hart’s memoir, “Psychedelic Bubble Gum: Boyce & Hart, The Monkees, and Turning Mayhem into Miracles” (978-1-59079-290-2), which outlined his early years; the formation of the Boyce & Hart team; and the spectacular success of their relationship with the Monkees. It also covers their political activism during the late 60s. Boyce & Hart were strong supporters of the RFK presidential campaign, and they were involved in promoting the 26th amendment, which in 1971 successfully lowered the voting age from 21 to 18—their song “LUV (Let Us Vote)” served as the theme song for the movement.

In addition to his musical career “Psychedelic Bubble Gum” delves into Hart’s spiritual life. A chance introduction to Indian yoga culture began to influence his decisions and desires, and Hart came to use it as the paramount driving force in his life. Giving readers a look into the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda as well as his personal path to learning and enlightenment, Hart explains the motivation behind his later work and the power that finding God through meditation.

The book closes with a tragedy. In an afterword entitled, “He Was My Brother, He Was My Eternal Friend,” Hart recounts the painful loss his friend and close collaborator, Tommy Boyce. Tommy had struggled with depression and other serious medical issues, and took his own life in 1994.

Some of the other Boyce & Hart top ten hits include “Come a Little Bit Closer” (Jay and the Americans), “Hurt So Bad” (Linda Ronstadt, Little Anthony, the Lettermen), “Words”, “Valleri” (the Monkees), “Something’s Wrong with Me” (Austin Roberts), “Keep on Singing” (Helen Reddy) and “Dominos” (Robbie Nevil). His songs have been recorded by artists as diverse as Alicia Keys, the Sex Pistols, New Edition, Andy Williams, Eric Burdon & the Animals, Lulu, Dean Martin, Roger Williams, Herman’s Hermits, and Lester Flat & Earl Scruggs. Boyce & Hart also had a short but successful career as recording artists and performers in their own right, charting the top ten with their single, “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight”.

"Psychedelic Bubble Gum" was co-authored by Bobby’s close friend and associate, Glenn Ballantyne and it includes a foreword by Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, who wrote "To this day, I always credit them with not only writing many of our biggest hits, but as producers, being instrumental in creating that unique Monkee sound that we all know and love." In 2014, Boyce & Hart were the subject of the documentary feature film, “The Guys Who Wrote 'Em” written and produced by Rachel Lichtman and Andrew Sandoval, and narrated by Bobby Hart.

Bobby Hart was born Robert Luke Harshman on February 18, 1939 in Phoenix, AZ. His father was a church minister, and he honed his skill on the organ performing during services at the family church. He served in the army after high school and on leaving the service he went to Los Angeles with aspirations for breaking into the music business. While he was still trying to make as a solo act, a producer told him that his name “Harshman” was too long, so he shortened it to “Hart” which is what he would be known as from then on. Hart met and became friends with Tommy Boyce in 1959. Boyce was also trying to make it in the music business, and they started the Boyce & Hart collaboration shortly thereafter. The partnership made its first breakthrough with the song "Lazy Elsie Molly" which was recorded by Chubby Checker in 1964.

In 1965, Boyce & Hart signed exclusive songwriting agreements with Screen Gems/Columbia Music and began turning out a barrage of pop songs and television and motion picture music that would make them one of the legendary songwriting teams of the sixties. Tapped by Screen Gems in 1966 to create the sound for a new made-for-television recording group, Boyce & Hart produced the Monkees’ first hit single, “Last Train to Clarksville,” and album, The Monkees, beginning a period of unprecedented sales. As their success grew, the Boyce & Hart team helped create the sound of America’s answer to the British invasion, allowing the Monkees to outsell the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined in 1967.

Bobby Hart had two sons, Bobby Jr. and Bret, from his first marriage to Becky Brill. That marriage ended in divorce. He married MaryAnn Hart in 1980, and they remained together until his passing.

Kenichi Sugihara
SelectBooks, Inc.
+1 973-342-6198
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