Tommy Boyce

Tommy Boyce (real name: Sidney Thomas Boyce; born September 29, 1939 in Charlottesville , Virginia , † November 23, 1994 in Nashville , Tennessee ) was an American pop music author.

The beginnings

In October 1959, Boyce wrote together with John Marascalco for Fats Domino the song Be my Guest , which reached an 8th place. His next major compositions did not appear until June 1961 for Curtis Lee's hits Pretty Little Angel Eyes and Under the Moon of Love (October 1961), the latter being covered very successfully by Showaddywaddy (November 1976 No. 1 in England). During this time, Tommy Boyce recorded songs himself, his biggest hit being the self-written I'll Remember Carol from October 1962, which reached number 80 on the Billboard charts. Lazy Elsie Mollie was created in June 1964 for the former Twist king Chubby Checker , which could not prevent Checker's musical decline. Together with Wes Farrell, Boyce composed the song Come a Little Bit Closer for Jay & the Americans in September 1964 , which actually brought him closer to the top of the chart with a No. 3. Bobby Hart , however, wrote the top 10 song Hurt so Bad for Little Anthony & the Imperials in February 1965 , before Boyce's first measurable cooperation with Bobby Hart came about in February 1965 for the Ikettes with Peaches 'n' Cream , the full-time accompanying group of Ike & Tina Turner . The rock 'n' roller Freddie Cannon tried in vain in August 1965 to get his career going again with action , but it was to be his penultimate single. Paul Revere & the Raiders took over the song I'm Not your Stepping Stone for their LP Midnight Ride in June 1966 , which would later gain in importance. Compared to other authors, the frequency of the compositions was still quite manageable, and the successes were limited.

Don Kirshner calls

That changed when music publisher Don Kirshner became aware of Boyce / Hart and hired them for a TV project alongside other authors in early 1966. It was the weekly NBC sitcom series " The Monkees ", for which a band of the same name was sought in the star magazine " Variety ", which was to be provided with song material. Band and songs should be presented in this series. After a casting of 400 applicants, there were 4 boys left - albeit with modest musical talent. Boyce / Hart wrote Last Train to Clarksville in August 1966 for the Monkees' first single, which went straight to No. 1 with sales of 1.9 million records. However, the Monkees were strongly supported during the production: Boyce / Hart sang along, accompanied by session musicians. With the TV series as a vehicle, it seemed to be possible to build up the Monkees as competition to the Beatles . The Monkees' next single reached No. 1 with another sales record: The A-side I'm a Believer was composed by Neil Diamond , but the Boyce / Hart composition I'm not Your Stepping Stone could be used as the B-side Participate in the turnover of more than one million pre-orders. The team then wrote the single hit Valleri in February 1968. Overall, Boyce / Hart were responsible for around 80 percent of the Monkees songs, mostly hidden on long-playing records . Besides the soundtrack "Head", every Monkees LP contained a few songs by Boyce / Hart. A total of 30 songs were created for the retort band.

The time after the Monkees

The British Herman's Hermits covered If you're thinking what I'm thinking, composed as film music in 1966, in April 1967, before Boyce / Hart then concentrated on their own career as an interpreter. The greatest success was her own composition I wonder what she's doing tonight in December 1967 from the Dean Martin film "The Ambushers", which reached number 8 in the charts. It was followed by Goodbye baby (April 1968) and Alice long (July 1968). Boyce later produced and composed for artists such as Iggy Pop (LP "Party", 1998), Meat Loaf and Del Shannon .

Overall, Boyce / Hart have sold over 85 million records with their third-party compositions. Between June 1964 and June 1968 Boyce had composed 209 songs according to BMI , which were implemented 42 million times.

plant

• Tommy Boyce: How to Write a Hit Song… and Sell it . Wilshire Book Company, Hollywood 1974, ISBN 0-87980-291-X (American English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ BMI registration Tommy Boyce  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Portrait (Engl.)
• Official Homepage (Engl.)