| One of the
most popular members of the musical Seals family, singer/songwriter
Dan Seals had a string of hit singles in the '70s as part of
the duo England Dan and John Ford Coley and as a solo performer
in the '80s with his country-inflected soft rock. Seals was
born in McCamey, Texas.
At the age of four, he learned
to play string bass and began playing with the Seals Family
band. Eventually Dan's parents divorced and he remained with
his mother. For the next few years, they moved throughout the
state before settling in Dallas in 1958.
During high school, Seals played
in a variety of garage rock bands, which is how he met John
Ford Coley. In 1965, Seals, Coley, and Shane Keister recorded
some demos in Nashville under the name the Shimmerers, but their
producer died before he could secure a record contract for the
group.In 1967, the
trio switched their name to the Southwest F.O.B. and released
their debut single, "The Smell of Incense," which reached the
national pop charts. Despite the promising success of the record,
however, the group's next three singles all stiffed. In 1969,
Seals and Coley left the group to form a soft-rock duo.
After failing to land a record
contract in California, the duo returned to Texas, where, performing
under the name England Dan & John Ford Coley, they were signed
to A&M. Their first singles for the label didn't sell well and
the label dropped the duo in 1973. For the next few years, they
played clubs.In 1976,
they recorded a demo of a song called "I'd Really Love to See
You Tonight" and began shopping the tape to various record labels.
The single became England Dan & John Ford Coley's breakthrough
hit in the summer of 1976, peaking at number two on the U.S.
pop charts.
The duo's follow-up, "Nights
Are Forever Without You," reached the Top Ten and the group's
album, also titled Nights Are Forever Without You, went gold
by the end of 1976. Throughout the late '70s, the group had
a string of pop and adult contemporary hits.
In 1980, Seals left the duo and
pursued a solo career, signing with Atlantic Records; he was
still billed as England Dan. His first solo single became a
moderate pop hit in the fall of 1980. In 1981, Seals went through
a devastating battle with the IRS.
By the end of the year, he had
lost virtually everything he had, leaving him almost destitute.
In 1983, he began to focus his efforts on breaking the country
market. The shift in style worked — he had three Top 40 hits
that year, including "Everybody's Dream Girl."
He had three Top Ten hits in
1984, and in 1985 began a streak of nine straight number one
hits with "Meet Me In Montana," a duet with Marie Osmond. Seals
continually charted in the Top Ten until the end of 1990, when
mainstream country shifted away from his pop-inflected soft
country.
In 1991, Seals signed a contract
with Warner Brothers Records, releasing Walking the Wire the
following year. Neither the album or its singles were hits and
the vocalist effectively retired from recording in the mid-'90s,
choosing to concentrate on touring instead. |
