Our yacht rock sails are at half mast today as we mourn the passing of Dan Seals, half of the chart-topping 70s duo England Dan & John Ford Coley. He passed away yesterday from lymphoma-related causes at the age of 61 in Nashville.
Dan (on the right) & John struck mellow gold in 1976 with "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight," their bell-bottomed ode to climate-induced, no-strings-attached lovemaking.
I'm not talkin' 'bout movin' in
And I don't want to change your life
But there's a warm wind blowin' and the stars are out
And I'd really love to see you tonight
Here's England Dan & John Ford Coley doing their big hit on The Midnight Special way back when. Take it away, Wolfman.
Seals was also part of easy-listening rock royalty: his older brother was Jim Seals of Seals & Crofts fame. And after his partnership with J.F. Coley came to an end, Seals went solo and scored 11 #1 country hits from 1985 to 1990, including “Meet Me in Montana,” a duet with Marie Osmond.
R.I.P., England Dan. Nights are forever without you.
Holidays at the Seals house must have been something. Dan and JFC pullin' out the Martins for a quick set around the fire....Dash Crofts stopping by...and I have to think there was a Bread connection there somewhere. Rock royalty indeed.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't as much a fan of their 'hit' phase of their career as I was of their first two LPs on A&M and especially the second, "Fables". I t was released in 1972, about the same time as Seals & Crofts were peaking with 'Summer Breeze' & 'Diamond Girl'.
ReplyDeleteIt featured many of the same musicians, notably Louie Shelton on lead guitar who colored most of the Seals & Crofts records, too,
Fables was an exquisite LP at the time, full of great harmonies and smooth soft rock melodies. I was enamored of this LP as well as Seals & Crofts, America, Batdorfr & Rodney, Compton & Batteau, The Good Brothers, Sailcat, Robey, Falk & Bod, Brewer & Shipley. I'm sure it all stemed from my earlier love of the Everly Brothers & Simon and Garfunkel. It was a great era for vacl harmonies, that's for sure.
So if you were a fan of England Dan & John Ford Coley, see if you can find their first two on A&M and see whatc they were doing BEFORE they 'soldout'.