Founded in 1969, Seals & Crofts was one of the most successful soft rock duos of the 1970s. James 'Jim' Seals (born October 17, 1942) and Darrel 'Dash' Crofts (born August 14, 1938) first met when they were playing in the same band, Dean Beard and the Crew Cats. The duo relocated from Texas to Los Angeles, California where they, along with band mate Beard, joined The Champs after the group had scored its only Number 1 single, “Tequila”. As well as band work, both Seals and Crofts had side projects - Seals composed “It's Never Too Late” recorded by Brenda Lee and Crofts played in a band called The Dawnbreakers. In 1963, Champs members Jim Seals, Dash Crofts, Jerry Cole, and Glen Campbell left to form Glen Campbell and the GCs. Although the band only lasted a couple of years, the reputation that Seals and Crofts garnered from working with the likes of Campbell stood them in good stead for future endeavors. The pair decided to leave their band experiences behind them and form a duo, with Seals playing saxophone, guitar and violin and Crofts on guitar and mandolin. Their first three albums – Seals & Crofts (1969), Down Home (1970), and Year of Sunday (1971) - failed to make an impressive impact on the charts but their fourth release, Summer Breeze (1972), earned them a number 7 position and a gold disc thanks to the massive success of the album’s title track, which reached number 6. After the success of “Summer Breeze”, they performed at several festivals across America and scored with “Hummingbird”, which was a Top 20 hit. In 1973, they reached number 6 with the single “Diamond Girl”, taken from the hit album of the same name. The single “We May Never Pass This Way (Again)” (1973) barely missed the Top 20, stopping at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their 1974 album Unborn Child didn’t garner any significant hits but the title track of their 1975 album I’ll Play for You returned them to the Top 20. Seals & Crofts next – and final – Top 10 hit was “Get Closer”, lifted from the album of the same name. The duo recorded several more albums with diminishing results and by 1980, they split up after their label, Warner Bros. Records, dropped them. In 1991, Seals & Crofts reunited for a series of concerts but split up again the following year. They reunited again in 2004 and released Traces, their first album in 24 years. However, the reunion was short-lived, and they went their separate ways for the final time. Jim Seals suffered a stroke in 2017 and, after a long illness, he died on June 6, 2022, aged 79. Dash Crofts died on March 25, 2026, due to complications from heart surgery at the age of 87.
