Founding member of the DELFONICS, RANDY CAIN has died at his Philadelphia home. He was 63. CAIN, who was born in May 1945, formed his first group – the 4 GENTS – at high school. The other three “gents” were the brothers WILLIAM and WILBERT HART and RITCHIE DANIELS. The GENTS morphed into the ORPHONICS who soon came to the attention of Philly music biz hustler, STAN WATSON, who found them a deal with THOM BELL and Moon Shot Records. Then Uncle Sam called on DANIELS and the remaining three became the DELFONICS; that, and a label change (to Philly Groove) soon saw the hits roll out. Under the aegis of THOM BELL, the trio scored with songs like ‘La La Means I Love You’, ‘Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)’ and ‘Ready Or Not Here I Come’ and though soul purists jibed at their music’s lush, symphonic sounds, a whole new soul sub-genre had been created. CAIN left the group in 1971 (to be replaced by MAJOR HARRIS), but he rejoined in the ’80s for a series of comeback shows. From then till the present time he’s been in and out of different manifestations of the DELFONICS and involved in endless litigation with other group members, managers and record labels over the knotty royalty problem. CAIN was found dead in his Philadelphia apartment on 9th April. The cause of death is still not known.
