Monkees Music Legend Dead at 86: RIP to Bobby Hart

Songwriter Bobby Hart, a key staple of the Monkees’ multimedia empire who was responsible for much of the group’s success, has died. He was 86.

Hart, who teamed up with Tommy Boyce on the Monkees’ hits like “Last Train to Clarksville” and “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone,” died at his home in Los Angeles, according to his friend and co-author, Glenn Ballantyne. He had been in poor health since breaking his hip last year.

Boyce, who died in 1994, and Hart were a successful songwriting duo in the 1960s; for the Monkees, especially. They wrote the made-for-TV’s theme song, with its opening shot, “Here we come, walkin’ down the street,” and chant, “Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees,” and their first No. 1 hit, “Last Train to Clarksville.”

The Monkees’ eponymous debut album included six songs from Boyce and Hart; the duo also served as producers and used their own backing musicians, the Candy Store Prophets, as session players.

Micky Dolenz, the Monkees’ drummer and lead singer, wrote in a foreword to Hart’s 2015 memoir, Psychedelic Bubblegum, that he credits them “not only with writing many of our biggest hits, but as producers, being instrumental in creating the unique Monkee sound we all know and love.”

Boyce and Hart pursued their own careers as the Monkees took more control over their work as the group grew more famous. They appeared on such sitcoms as I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched, released their own albums and became politically active, campaigning for Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential election. They wrote the “L.U.V. (Let Us Vote)” in support of the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

Later in his career, Hart collaborated with others for several hits on the Partridge Family. He worked with Austin Roberts on “Over You,” an Oscar-nominated ballad by Betty Buckley in Tender Mercies. He also worked with Dick Eastman on “My Secret (Didja Gitit Yet?)” for New Edition.

Hart and Boyce toured with Dolenz and Davy Jones in the ’70s and released an album with them.

Hart was married twice, most recently to singer Mary Ann Hart, and had two children from his first marriage.