William “Poogie” Hart, (1945 – 2022) vocalist and founding member of the Philadelphia soul group the Delfonics, has died, TMZ and The Philadelphia Inquirer report. Hart was taken to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia after experiencing difficulty breathing and died Thursday night due to complications from surgery, according to the reports. He was 77.
The Delfonics are an American R&B/soul vocal group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Delfonics were most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their most notable hits include “La-La (Means I Love You)”, “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)”, “Break Your Promise”, “I’m Sorry”, and “Ready or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide from Love)”. Their hit songs were primarily written by lead vocalist and founding member William “Poogie” Hart, and arranger and producer Thom Bell.
Their songs have been used in film soundtracks, including Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 movie Jackie Brown, in which “La-La (Means I Love You)” and “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” underscore the pivotal relationship between the characters played by Pam Grier and Robert Forster. Their songs “Ready or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide from Love)” and “Funny Feeling” were used in the video game Grand Theft Auto V on the fictional radio station The Lowdown 91.1.
William “Poogie” Hart continued touring with his group, Johnson and Fleming while Wilbert Hart continued touring with his group, Branch and Salaam. Randy Cain reunited with the brothers at the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Awards in Philadelphia to perform for the first time together in years, and were honored with the Pioneer Award. Soon after, Cain joined William Hart on his tour and stayed with that unit until his death in 2009. William Hart, along with Russell Thompkins Jr., the original lead singer of The Stylistics and Ted Mills the original lead singer of Blue Magic came together to record a CD entitled, The Three Tenors of Soul, which was produced by songwriter and producer, Bobby Eli and released in 2007.
Randy Cain died on April 9, 2009, at age 63.
Major Harris died on November 9, 2012, at age 65.
As of 2020, William Hart and Wilbert Hart celebrated their 55th anniversary in the music industry with Lead singer William “Poogie” Hart passing on July 14, 2022, at age 77.
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