Sidney Thomas "Tommy" Boyce

 Sidney Thomas "Tommy" Boyce (September 29, 1939 – November 23, 1994)

He is probably best known as a member of the prolific songwriting duo Boyce and Hart, who wrote songs for the 1960s rock group The Monkees and other musical groups of that era. After high school, he served in the United States Army and upon his discharge, he travelled to Los Angeles, California to pursue a singing career. After being rejected numerous times, he took his father's suggestion to write a song called "Be My Guest" for rock and roll star Fats Domino, who liked the song, recorded it, and it reached Number 8 on the US charts and Number 11 in England. In 1959 he met Bobby Hart and the following year played guitar on Hart's single "Girl in the Window," which was unsuccessful. In 1964 their partnership made a breakthrough with a song recorded by Chubby Checker, "Lazy Elsie Molly." They went on to write hits for Jay & the Americans ("Come a Little Bit Closer"), Paul Revere and the Raiders ("(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone"), and The Leaves ("Words"). The duo also wrote the theme song to the daytime soap "Days of Our Lives."

In late 1965, they wrote, produced and performed the soundtrack to the pilot of the television sitcom "The Monkees," including singing lead vocals. While working with The Monkees, the duo and Hart embarked on a successful career as recording artists in their own right, releasing three albums on A&M Records, "Test Patterns," "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight," and "It's All Happening on the Inside". They also performed "I'll Blow You a Kiss in the Wind" on the television show "Bewitched" in one of several television series appearances that included guest spots on "The Flying Nun" and "I Dream of Jeannie." In the mid-1970s, they reunited with former Monkees members Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz, performing the songs they had written for The Monkees a decade before. Legally prohibited from using the Monkees name, they called themselves Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart. After a stint living in the UK, Boyce returned to live in Memphis, Tennessee, where he taught songwriting on Beale Street, and Nashville, Tennessee. But he struggled with depression, and later suffered a brain aneurysm. On November 23, 1994, he committed suicide by gunshot, age 55. Boyce is buried at Scottsville Cemetery in Scottsville, Virginia.