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It's estimated that Bobby Hart's solo compositions and collaborative efforts have produced record sales over and above 85 million. With Tommy Boyce he wrote the theme to Days of Our Lives (1965) and hits for artists including Andy Williams, Dean Martin, The Animals and Del Shannon. In addition, they wrote music for television and films movies (Bobby has been nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy). They were even instrumental in lowering the voting age to 18. And then, of course, there's The Monkees.
The career of Bobby Hart goes back to the late 1950s. In those days--before there was color TV--Tommy and Bobby had established themselves as two of the greatest writers to ever come out of the legendary Brill Building. Boyce & Hart have amassed an impressive body of work in the areas of film and television music. In 1965 Bobby went on tour as a "Dazzler" with Teddy Randazzo and the Dazzlers. He co-wrote, with Rendazzo, "Hurt So Bad", which became the follow-up hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials' smash hit "Going Out Of My Head". "Hurt So Bad" would climb the charts three separate times in three separate decades: 1965 for Little Anthony and the Imperials, in 1970 for The Lettermen and in 1980 for Linda Ronstadt. In the spring of 1965 Bobby joined Tommy in California. One of their first writing assignments together was to compose the theme song for the soap opera "Days of Our Lives", which has been running on the program now for more than 30 years. By 1966 Boyce and Hart had created the musical sound for four actors who played musicians in a weekly television sitcom. Breaking records around the world, The Monkees became a cult phenomenon second only in popularity perhaps (arguably) to Star Trek (1966). Boyce and Hart wrote a whopping 30 songs for the foursome, some of which they would later record themselves. When Tommy saw the popularity of The Monkees, he approached Bobby and the duo decided to start an act of their own. Fueled by their own growing teen magazine popularity for being associated with The Monkees, they signed a record deal with A&M Records. The two scored many chart successes of their own, including "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight?", "Alice Long", "I'm Gonna Blow You A Kiss In The Wind" and "Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows". They also appeared on TV in episodes of Bewitched (1964), I Dream of Jeannie (1965) and The Flying Nun (1967).
In 1968 the duo campaigned to support Robert F. Kennedy in his run for the Presidency, and they spearheaded the "Let Us Vote", or "L.U.V.", campaign, which ultimately helped to lower the voting age to 18 in the US. During the 1970s Bobby wrote with Tommy from time to time, but also with others such as Danny Janssen and Wes Farrell (The Partridge Family (1970), Josie and the Pussycats (1970)). During this time Bobby's collaboration with Danny produced two top-ten records in one year: "Keep On Singing" for Helen Reddy and "Something's Wrong With Me" for Austin Roberts. Bobby would later reteam with Tommy in the newly reformed Monkees revival, "Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart". What's not particularly well known about that reteaming is that the group actually had its origin while on a special trip to entertain at Vietnamese internment camps in the early 1970s. According to friend and fellow musician Keith Allison, they traveled down with Susan Sarandon, Beau Bridges and others. Later, DJB&H would meet to discuss taking the act out on the road, and "Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart" was born. They recorded two albums for Capitol Records in 1976 and embarked on a highly successful world tour to commemorate the tenth anniversary of The Monkees.
In 1983 Bobby's continued association with Austin Roberts yielded them an Academy Award nomination for the beautiful ballad "Over You" from the film Tender Mercies (1983) with Robert Duvall and Betty Buckley. In the 1980s Bobby also collaborated with Richard Eastman on such songs as "Dominoes" by Robbie Nevil and "My Secret" for The New Edition. He also contributed a track to the reunited Monkees platinum album "Then and Now", with an aptly named song "Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere", which was supposed to have been a follow-up to The Monkees' 1986 hit "That Was Then, This Is Now". Bobby and Tommy remained friends until Tommy's untimely death in 1994. They recorded three albums together: "Test Patterns", "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight" and "It's All Happening On The Inside". All of these titles are available on CD. Bobby recorded his own solo album in England entitled "The First Bobby Hart Solo Album". This title is not yet available on CD.
Bobby's first marriage resulted in two sons, Bret and Bobby Jr. Bobby and his second wife now live in Los Angeles. He is still very much involved in the business, composing for many varied projects. Forty years later the impact of Boyce and Hart still resonates. Tune into any oldies station and at least once during the course of any given day you will very likely hear a Boyce and Hart composition.
