R & B singer and one of the pioneers of Philly Soul Randy Cain died Thursday at age 63. The cause of death is not known. Cain was best known as a founding member of The Delfonics (that's him on the right). He was born May 2, 1945 in Philadelphia and he started The Delfonics With William & Wilbert Hart while in high school. The other key figure in The Delfonics was legendary producer Thom Bell. Cameo-Parkway producer Stan Watson introduced The Delfonics to Bell and signed them to his new Philly Groove label. At a time when the raw soul of Otis Redding & Wilson Picket was popular, Bell brought a smoother sound usually with strings. They hit the jackpot with the 1968 hit La-La Means I Love You which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Delfonics continued to do well on the R & B charts but struck gold again with the 1970 hit Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) which reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Cain left The Delfonics in 1971 to form the very similar group Blue Magic but he had left by the time they began recording in 1974. Cain returned to The Delfonics in 1980 and was in one of two versions of the group that toured in the 80s. The Delfonics got a big boost when Quentin Tarantino used their music in his 1997 film Jackie Brown. That's when Arista released the comp La-La Means I Love You: The Definitive Collection. Their music has also been sampled heavily by hip-hop artists. It doesn't look like Cain was active in recent years and he was living in Maple Shade, NJ at the time of his death. Here are The Delfonics performing Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) in 1970. RIP Randy Cain.
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