Seals and Crofts were an American

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

duo formed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California in 1969 by James Eugene Seals (October 17, 1942 – June 6, 2022) and Darrell George "Dash" Crofts (born August 14, 1938). They are best known for their hits " Summer Breeze" (1972), " Diamond Girl" (1973), and " Get Closer" (1976), each of which peaked at No. 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Both Seals and Crofts were publicly outspoken advocates for the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

. Though the duo disbanded in 1981, they reunited briefly in 1989–1992, and again in 2004, when they released their final album, ''Traces''. Seals and his younger brother, the charting singer-songwriter "England" Dan Seals, later performed publicly together as Seals & Seals.

Early careers

Jim Seals and Dash Crofts were both born in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

; Crofts in

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...

in 1938 and Seals in Sidney in 1942. They first met when Crofts was a drummer for a local band. Later, Seals joined a rockabilly band called Dean Beard and the Crew Cats, in which he played sax; later on, Crofts joined Seals in the band. With Beard, they moved to Los Angeles to join

the Champs The Champs are an American rock and roll band, most famous for their Latin-tinged 1958 instrumental single "Tequila (The Champs song), Tequila". The group took their name from that of Gene Autry's horse, Champion, and was formed by recording s ...

after the group's "

Tequila Tequila (; ) is a liquor, distilled beverage made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, Jalisco, Tequila northwest of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Guadalajara, and in the Jaliscan Highlands (''Los Altos (Jal ...

" reached No. 1 in 1958. Seals also spent time during 1959 in the touring band of

Eddie Cochran Ray Edward Cochran ( ; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. His songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", " Summertime Blues", " C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in ...

. Seals had a song ("It's Never Too Late") recorded by

Brenda Lee Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Primarily performing rockabilly, pop, country and Christmas music, she achieved her first ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' hit aged 12 i ...

in 1961, which was featured as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of her U.S. ''Billboard'' No. 6 single, " You Can Depend on Me". "It's Never Too Late" nevertheless reached No. 101 on ''Billboard'' and No. 100 on ''Cash Box'' (week ending April 8, 1961) in its own right. In the UK, the sides were switched when the single was released, but the single failed to make the UK Singles Chart (at that time only a Top 50 listing). By 1963, Seals, Crofts,

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' on CBS television from ...

and

Jerry Cole Jerald Edward Kolbrak (September 23, 1939 – May 28, 2008), known professionally as Jerry Cole, was an American guitarist who recorded under his own name, under various budget album pseudonyms and as an uncredited session musician. Biography ...

left the Champs to form a band named Glen Campbell and the GCs, which played at The Crossbow in

Van Nuys Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1 ...

, California. The band lasted only a couple of years before the members went their separate ways. Crofts returned to Texas and Seals joined a band named the Dawnbreakers (a reference to ''

The Dawn-Breakers ''The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl's Narrative of the Early Days of the Baháʼí Revelation'' (''Maṭāleʿ al-anwār'') or ''Nabíl's Narrative'' (''Táríkh-i-Nabíl'') is an account of the early Bábí and Baháʼí Faiths written in Persian by N ...

'', a book about the beginnings of the Baha'i Faith). Crofts eventually returned to California to team up with Seals again, in the Dawnbreakers, and thus both Seals and Crofts were introduced to and became members of the

. After becoming longtime adherents of the religion, the two began to include references to and passages from Bahá'í scripture in their songwriting. When they appeared in concert, they often remained on stage after the performance to talk about the faith, while local Bahá'ís passed out literature to anyone interested.

As Seals and Crofts

After the failure of the Dawnbreakers, the two decided to play as a duo, with Seals on guitar, saxophone and violin and Crofts on guitar and

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

. They signed a contract with the record division of

Talent Associates Talent Associates, Ltd. (also known as Talent Associates-Paramount, Ltd. and Talent Associates-Norton Simon, Inc.), was a production company headed by David Susskind, later joined by Daniel Melnick, Leonard Stern and Ron Gilbert. Origins In th ...

(TA) in 1969 and released two LPs, of which only the second reached the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, peaking at No. 122 in October 1970. Crofts married fellow Dawnbreaker Billie Lee Day in 1969 and Seals married Ruby Jean Anderson in 1970. The pair signed a new contract with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

in August 1971. Their first album with their new label, ''Year of Sunday'', peaked at #133 in the US. Their second Warner Bros. album, '' Summer Breeze,'' was a hit, peaking at No. 7 in 1972. The title cut was released as a single, peaking at #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and #6 Pop. The song "Hummingbird" was the second single released from the album, climbing to #12 AC, #20 Pop. The album has since been certified 2× platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for sales of two million copies in the US. In 1973 Warner Bros. released '' Diamond Girl''. That album has been certified gold for sales of 500,000 copies in the US. The title song reached No. 6 on the US chart in July 1973, and another single, "

We May Never Pass This Way (Again) "We May Never Pass This Way (Again)" is a song by American soft rock duo Seals and Crofts, released as a single in 1973. It was the second single from their fifth studio album, ''Diamond Girl (album), Diamond Girl''. The song reached No. 21 on the ...

", peaked at No. 21. The controversial ''

Unborn Child ''Unborn Child'' is the sixth studio album by American music duo Seals and Crofts, released on February 8, 1974 by Warner Bros. Records. It features two singles, "Unborn Child" and "The King of Nothing", which reached number 66 and number 60 on ...

'' followed in 1974. Written shortly after ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...

'', Seals & Crofts expressed their anti-abortion position in the title song, which created a huge dilemma for radio stations. Some stations banned it while others added it to rotation. The album still went gold despite the controversy and the lack of a Top 40 hit. The duo played at the

California Jam California Jam (also known as Cal Jam) was a rock music festival co-headlined by Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, on April 6, 1974. It was produced by ABC Entertainment, Sandy Fe ...

festival in

Ontario, California Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, it lies ...

, on April 6, 1974. Attracting over 200,000 fans, the concert put them alongside 1970s acts such as

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

;

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

;

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of The Nice, Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars, producer) ...

;

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

;

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...

;

Black Oak Arkansas Black Oak Arkansas is an American Southern rock band named after the band's hometown of Black Oak, Arkansas. The band reached the height of its fame in the 1970s, charting ten albums. Their style is notable for multiple guitar players and ...

; and Rare Earth. Portions of the show were telecast on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

Television in the US, exposing the duo to a wider audience. 1975's ''

I'll Play for You ''I'll Play For You'' is Seals & Crofts' seventh studio album. The title cut reached #18 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #4 on the Adult Contemporary charts in the summer of 1975. It was equally successful in Canada (Pop #28, AC #2). It ...

'' was a gold seller as well, featuring the No. 18 hit title track, and their multi-platinum selling ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

'', released later the same year, has been certified 2× platinum. The duo had a return to the singles chart with the song " Get Closer", the title track from their 1976 album. Carolyn Willis (from the R&B vocal group

Honey Cone Honey Cone is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul music, soul girl group. Originally formed by lead singer Edna Wright (sister of Darlene Love) with Carolyn Willis and Shelly Clark in 1968. They are known for their List of Billboard Hot ...

) appeared on the song and it peaked at No. 6 in July of that year. Willis also joined them for their 1976 tour, which resulted in the live album '' Sudan Village''. The pair also recorded songs that appeared in the feature films '' One on One'' (1977) and ''

Foolin' Around ''Foolin' Around'' is a 1980 American romantic comedy sports film directed by Richard T. Heffron and starring Gary Busey and Annette O'Toole. The film was shot on location in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The theme music was perfo ...

'' (1980), as well as the song "First Years" that was the theme song to the debut (1978–79) season of the television series '' The Paper Chase''. 1978's ''

Takin' It Easy ''Takin' It Easy'' is the ninth studio album by Seals and Crofts, released in 1978 by Warner Bros. Records. It was their last album to chart and contain any charting singles. " You're the Love" reached #18 in early 1978 and #8 in Canada. The ti ...

'' featured the two branching out and experimenting with other types of sounds, including the

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

influenced "

You're the Love "You're the Love" is a 1978 song recorded by Seals and Crofts. The song reached number 18 on the U.S. ''Billboard Hot 100'', and in Canada it spent two weeks at number eight. The song was the act's final Top 40 hit in both nations. It was a bigge ...

", which reached No. 18. But their gold selling days were behind them by this point. In 1979 they contributed to the album ''Lote Tree'', which was a narrated history of the

that included songs by them and other artists. It was distributed only within Baháʼí media outlets. '' The Longest Road'', released in 1980, was their last for Warner Brothers.

Hiatus and reunions

In 1981, after a long and successful run of recordings in the 1970s, the two decided not to renew their contract with

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

and took a hiatus from music. There was brief attempt to start up their recording career again in 1983 when they began to work on another album, and

Lenny Waronker Lenny Waronker (born October 3, 1941) is an American record producer and music industry executive. As the president of Warner Bros. Records, and later, as the co-founder and co-chair of DreamWorks Records, Waronker was noted for his commitment ...

of Warners expressed interest, but the sessions were abandoned and nothing ever came of it. Crofts lived in Mexico, Australia, and then

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, playing

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

and making occasional singles. He currently resides on a ranch in the

Texas Hill Country The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ame ...

. Seals moved to

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and had lived on a

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

farm off and on since 1980, as well as in Nashville and southern Florida. During the 1980s, despite no longer being officially together as a duo, they continued to appear at several Baháʼí gatherings, including a world peace concert at the Baháʼí Center in Los Angeles for the film and music community in February 1989. After this, they made the rounds of Canadian radio stations and some American talk shows to promote the Baháʼí Peace Document. Also in 1989, Seals and Crofts officially reunited and made concert appearances once again up in Canada, and then they toured the US in 1991-1992 until disbanding again in late 1992. In 1998 Crofts released a solo CD titled ''Today'', which contained some re-recordings of Seals and Crofts material. In 2004 the duo reunited again and recorded their first new album since 1980, released as ''Traces''. In the early 2000s up to 2008, Seals embarked on various tours with his brother Dan ( "England" Dan Seals, of

England Dan & John Ford Coley England Dan & John Ford Coley were an American soft rock duo composed of Danny Wayland "England Dan" Seals and John Edward "John Ford" Coley, active throughout the 1970s. Native Texans, they are best known for their 1976 single "I'd Really Lo ...

), billing themselves as Seals & Seals and performing their successful hits from Seals & Crofts and England Dan & John Ford Coley, Dan's hits from his solo career and a few original songs written by the two brothers. A few shows featured Jim's sons Joshua on bass guitar and backing vocals and Sutherland on electric guitar. Seals and Crofts were instrumental in both England Dan Seals and John Ford Coley becoming adherents of the Baha'i Faith, although Coley became a Christian some 28 years later. Dan Seals died of cancer in 2009. At the time of his death, Dan and Jim Seals had been working on songs together. The status of those recordings is unknown. In December 2010 the bandmates' daughters Juliet (Seals) Crossley and Amelia (Crofts) Dailey, along with Genevieve (Bogan) Dozier, daughter of Seals and Crofts engineer Joey Bogan, formed a musical trio called the Humming Birds. They released their self titled EP ''The Humming Birds'' in September 2012. In 2018 Brady Seals (Jim's cousin) and Lua Crofts (Dash's daughter) began touring as Seals and Crofts 2, performing the catalog of Seals and Crofts, as well as some new music.

Seals' death

Jim Seals had a stroke in 2017. After a long illness, he died at his home in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 6, 2022, at age 79.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Songs in movies

* "These Moments Never Live Again", from ''

'' (1980) * "My Fair Share" from '' One on One'' (1977) * "Summer Breeze" from '' Dazed and Confused (film), Dazed and Confused'' (1993) * "Summer Breeze" from ''

King of California ''King of California'' is a 2008 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Cahill. It premiered on VHS January 28, 2008 at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and opened in limited release in North America on September 14, 2008. It sta ...

'' (2007) * "Summer Breeze" from ''

Land of the Lost Land of the Lost may refer to: Film and television Film * Land of the Lost (film), ''Land of the Lost'' (film), a 2009 American comedy * ''The Land of the Lost'', a 1914 film starring Arthur Donaldson (actor), Arthur Donaldson * ''The Land of the ...

'' (2009) * "Summer Breeze" from ''

Vacation A vacation (American English) or holiday (British English) is either a leave of absence from a regular job or school or an instance of leisure travel away from home. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances or for sp ...

'' (2015)

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Bentivegna, Anthony (ed.) ''sealsandcrofts.com'', Novato, California, 2000–2013. * George-Warren, H. (ed.) ''The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll'', 3rd ed., Fireside, New York, 2001. * Landau, Deborah
"Introducing Seals and Crofts"
''

Stereo Review ''Sound & Vision'' was an American magazine, purchased by AVTech Media Ltd. (UK) in March 2018, covering home theater, audio, video and multimedia consumer products. Before 2000, it had been published for most of its history as ''Stereo Review' ...

'', January 1971.

External links

Official website

* * {{Authority control American Bahá'ís American pop rock music groups American soft rock music groups Folk rock groups from California Carlton Records artists Challenge Records artists Warner Records artists 20th-century Bahá'ís 21st-century Bahá'ís American musical duos Soft rock duos American rock music duos American male musical duos Musical groups established in 1969 Musical groups disestablished in 1980 Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups from Texas 1969 establishments in California 1980 disestablishments in California