2 months ago
Singer-songwriter Darrell “Dash” Crofts, who teamed pinch puerility friend Jim Seals for specified 1970s soft-rock hits arsenic “Summer Breeze,” “Diamond Girl” and “Get Closer,” has died. He was 87.
Crofts died Wednesday of bosom nonaccomplishment astatine nan Heart Hospital of Austin successful Austin, Texas, said his daughter, Lua Crofts Faragher. She said her begetter had been suffering bosom issues for respective years and had been hospitalized for astir a month.
Seals and Crofts were autochthonal Texans who had known each different since precocious schoolhouse and played together successful various groups earlier becoming a duo, Seals & Crofts, successful nan precocious 1960s. Blending pop, country, people and jazz, they were portion of a activity of million-selling soft-rock (or “easy listening”) bands that included America, Bread and Loggins and Messina.
“Summer Breeze,” “Diamond Girl” and “Get Closer” each reached nan Top 10, while their different celebrated singles included “I’ll Play for You,” “Hummingbird” and “We May Never Pass This Way (Again).” The wide-eyed sentiments of nan second made it a favourite for precocious schoolhouse yearbooks:
“Life / So they opportunity / Is but a crippled and they’d fto it gaffe distant / Love / Like nan autumn sun / Should beryllium dyin’ / But it’s only conscionable begun.”
Not ever easy listening
Like galore bands of nan era, Seals & Crofts sang of love, peace, euphony and nan earthy world. But nan inspirations were rooted little successful nan counterculture than successful nan Baha’i faith, a monotheistic belief advocating world unity that they some embraced successful nan 1960s.
“It became a driving unit successful their careers and nan measurement they lived their lives,” Faragher said.
They worked Baha’i themes into their euphony — “Hummingbird” is simply a metaphor for nan Baha’i prophet Bahaullah — distributed lit aft their shows, and sometimes preached from nan stage, including during a capacity connected “Tonight” pinch Johnny Carson.
“You commencement retired penning songs for illustration ‘the leaves are greenish and nan entity is bluish and I emotion you and you emotion me’ — very elemental lyrics — but you turn into a much, overmuch broader consciousness of life, of love, and of unity,” Crofts told Stereo Review successful 1971. “It’s really awesome to beryllium capable to opportunity thing existent successful your music.”
One Baha’i tenet, that nan psyche originates pinch nan statement of nan embryo, led to controversy. In 1974, nan twelvemonth aft nan Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade determination established nan correct to abortion, Seals & Crofts released nan ballad “Unborn Child,” nan title opus of their caller album.
It was inspired by nan woman of their signaling engineer, who had seen a tv documentary astir abortion and wrote a poem pinch specified lines arsenic “Oh mini bud, that grows successful nan womb, only to beryllium crushed earlier you tin bloom.” Numerous power stations refused to play “Unborn Child” and protesters picketed Seals & Crofts, though nan medium was certified golden for trading 500,000 copies.
“I deliberation we sewage much bully results retired of it than bad,” Crofts later told nan St. Petersburg Press, “because a batch of group called america and said, ‘We’re naming our children aft you, because you helped america determine to prevention their lives pinch that song.’ That was very fulfilling to us.”
By nan early 1980s, soft-rock bands were retired of manner and Seals & Crofts had been dropped by its label, Warner Bros. They collapsed up for a clip but continued to look together astatine Baha’i gatherings, while besides signaling connected their own. Crofts released a solo album, “Today,” successful 1998, and six years later reunited pinch Seals for “Traces.” More recently, their euphony was revived by Faragher and Seals’ relative Brady, who toured together arsenic Seals & Crofts 2. (Jim Seals died successful 2022).
“There’s not a clip that we performed that we didn’t person hundreds of group coming up and expressing their emotion and often saying nan euphony changed their life,” Faragher said.
“There were truthful galore group who loved them,” she added. “They were a changeless work to mankind.” She said that her father’s death, a fewer years aft that of Seals, marked nan extremity of an era.
“That’s what makes it truthful achy — that it’s nan end,” she said. “But nan euphony will always, ever unrecorded on.”
Long-awaited breakthrough
Darrell George “Dash” Crofts was calved successful Cisco, Texas, successful 1938 and was singing and playing euphony from an early age, yet learning piano, guitar, drums and mandolin.
He met and befriended Seals erstwhile some were teenagers and successful a section rockabilly band, nan Crew Cats. By nan extremity of nan 1950s, they had moved to Los Angeles and joined The Champs, champion known for nan early stone deed “Tequila.” Seals and Crofts would later concisely play successful a set led by Glen Campbell, and subordinate different California group, nan Dawnbreakers, whose members included Crofts’ early wife, Billie Lee Day.
Although they performed connected nan aforesaid measure arsenic Eric Clapton and Deep Purple among others, they were turned disconnected by nan measurement and nan manner of hard-rock performers and honed a gentle sound. Seals & Crofts released their eponymous debut medium successful 1969, and soon followed pinch “Down Home” and “Year of Sunday.”
Their commercialized breakthrough came successful 1972 pinch “Summer Breeze,” which featured a chorus that classed pinch a modern hit, nan Eagles’ “Take it Easy,” arsenic a meaning of post-1960s escapism: “Summer breeze makes maine consciousness fine/blowing done nan jasmine of my mind.”
“That was nan opening of bigger concerts, bigger crowds and we kept getting hits successful nan Top 40,” Crofts told nan podcast “Inside MusiCast” successful 2021. “That cemented america successful nan euphony business.”
Crofts is survived by his 2nd wife, Louise Crofts; his children Lua, Faizi and Amelia; and 8 grandchildren, Faragher said. His first matrimony ended successful divorce.
