Pop-Country Hitmaker Dan Seals Dies at 61
Dan Seals, who enjoyed successful careers in both pop and country music for more than three decades, died Wednesday. He was 61 years old.
Seals battled mantle cell lymphoma, and according to sources had recently undergone an experimental stem cell transplant at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. He died at his home in Nashville, while under hospice care.
Born in McCamey, Texas, Dan Seals was the brother of Jim Seals, of the hit pop duo Seals and Crofts. The younger Seals soon followed in his brother's footsteps, forming a singing partnership with John Ford Coley. The duo scored a number of hit singles on the pop chart throughout the '70s as England Dan and John Ford Coley, including the No. 2 hit, 'I'd Really Love to See You Tonight,' and a Top 10 cover of Todd Rundgren's 'Love Is the Answer.'
In 1980, Seals signed as a solo country-pop artist with Atlantic Records, and in 1983, turned his attention solely to country music, signing with Nashville's Liberty/Capitol label. In 1984, he began an impressive streak of 16 Top 10 country hits, starting with 'God Must Be a Cowboy.' In 1985, he scored the first of 11 No. 1 country songs, with 'Meet Me in Montana,' a duet with Marie Osmond. Other chart-topping hits included 'Addicted,' 'You Still Move Me' and the pop crossover hit, 'Bop,' which was the CMA's Single of the Year in 1986.
Like his brother, Seals was a member of the Bahá'í faith. He was a cousin of the late country singer Johnny Duncan, and also a cousin of songwriter Troy Seals and former Little Texas singer Brady Seals. He is also survived by wife Andrea, three sons and a daughter, as well as his mother, two brothers and sister.
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