Posted on 07/15/2022 6:05:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway
William ‘Poogie’ Hart died age 77 from “complications from surgery”.
The Delfonics frontman passed away unexpectedly, with TMZ reporting the cause of death as linked to a medical procedure.
It is understood the singer had been struggling with breathing and was rushed to Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia.
Born January 14, 1945, William and his brother Wilbert were the founding members of the Delfonics in the late 1960s.
Their bandmates included Randy Cain, Ritchie Daniels, and Thom Bell, with William and Thom writing their entire catalogue.
The Delfonics split in 1975 after landing a dozen top-20 hits on the ‘Billboard R B and Soul Single Chart’.
Former members continued to perform in other bands throughout the 1990s and 2000s, with crowd-pleasing songs including ‘Didn’t I’ and ‘La-La (Means I Love You)’ – which featured in the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino’s film ‘Jackie Brown’.
Directors such as Spike Lee have used their music, with their songs widely covered by other acts.
Biggie Smalls, Missy Elliott and Nicki Minaj have sampled their tunes, while The Fugees played a version of The Delfonics’ ‘Ready Or Not, Here I Come (Can't Hide From Love)’ on album ‘The Score’.
Delfonics fans flooded the web with tributes, with one saying about how they inspired a raft of other groups: “There’s no Blue Magic, no Stylistics, or any other group that excelled in ballads in the early 70s (especially groups that had a primary falsetto lead singer) without the foundation of The Delfonics. RIP William Hart, now reunited with Randy Cain and Major Harris.”
Musically speaking, that is a very well crafted and produced song. The Delfonics had several great songs during their career, but after a while, it seems that they just ran out of good material to work with. Someof their later tunes were weak and without direction. I think some of the members, as with Thom Bell, had begun shopping their wares to other entertainers.
Jamaican born Thom Bell moved on to write many hits for the Stylistics, including.
Stop, Look, Listen to Your Heart, Betcha By Golly Wow, others. The Stylistics became many magnitudes more famous than the Delfonics did. That’s simply how it worked out.
Remember when I was drafted, out in the village; I was the only white boy singing Delfonic tunes with blk friends, ha. good memories.
Oh man, the Delfonics were one of my all time favorite groups! They surely paved the way for all those smooth ballad Soul groups of the early 70’s that were part of the soundtrack of my early teen years.. Wish they still made music like that.
They made beautiful music. RIP.
Oh, sad news! Loved (his) their hits.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.