After scoring several hits as part of the soft rock duo England Dan
& John Ford Coley, Dan Seals reinvented himself as a country-pop
singer and enjoyed a tremendous run of success during the latter
half of the '80s. Born in McCamey, TX, in 1948, his brother was Jim
Seals, later of another successful soft rock duo, Seals & Crofts.
Both brothers played with their parents in the Seals Family Band,
with Dan learning string bass; however, after their parents
divorced, Dan spent several years moving around with his mother.
They eventually settled in Dallas in 1958, and Seals spent his teen
years playing in garage bands, where he first met John Ford Coley.
They worked together in a band called the Shimmerers, which recorded
some demos in 1965 and became the Southwest F.O.B. two years later,
scoring a chart single with "The Smell of Incense." Seals and Coley
left to form a duo in 1969 and kicked around for a while, landing an
early-'70s deal with A&M that went sour.
They finally hit big in the
late '70s, with soft rock touchstones "I'd Really Love to See You
Tonight" and "Nights Are Forever Without You" ranking as their
best-known singles.Seals went solo in 1980, signing with Atlantic
and keeping the name England Dan for his debut album, Stones.
In 1981, he underwent a grueling battle with the IRS that
cost him nearly everything he owned.
His follow-up album, Harbinger, stiffed, and he turned his attention
to country music, adapting his style to fit the demands of country
radio while still keeping his signature soft sound.
Signed to
Liberty/Capitol, he scored a pair of Top Ten hits on the country
charts in 1984 with "(You Bring Out) The Wild Side of Me" and "God
Must Be a Cowboy." "My Old Yellow Car" and "My Baby's Got Good
Timing" had similar success in 1985, and his next single, a duet
with Marie Osmond called "Meet Me in Montana," went all the way to
number one.
It also kicked
off a spectacular run of nine straight chart-toppers: 1986 brought
"Bop" and "Everything That Glitters (Is Not Gold)"; 1987 saw "I Will
Be There," "Three Time Loser," and "You Still Move Me"; 1988
featured "Addicted" and "One Friend"; and 1989 gave him one more in
"Big Wheels in the Moonlight."
Not only that, he managed two more number ones in 1990, thanks to
"Good Times" and "Love on Arrival." However, the arrival of Garth
Brooks abruptly changed the country landscape, and Seals found his
style out of favor. He moved to Warner Brothers in 1991, without
much success, and despite releasing a few recordings on smaller
labels in the latter half of the '90s, he was effectively a touring
artist for the remainder of the decade.
Although Dan Seals was
a touring artist for the rest of the 1990s, he did
release a few more albums on smaller labels
throughout the decade, such as Fired Up in
1994, his final album for Warner Bros. He signed to
Intersound and released In a Quiet Room,
comprising acoustic versions of his earlier hits in
1995. He then switched to TDC and released In a
Quiet Room II in 1998, followed by Make It
Home in 2002.
In 2008, Seals
completed radiation treatments for mantle cell
lymphoma at Vanderbilt in Nashville and M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and received a
stem cell transplant in December of that year at NIH
in Maryland. Seals died on March 25, 2009 at his
daughter's home following those treatments.
Dan
Seals
-
Stones
"Debut
solo album from Dan Seals"
The Tracks are:
Stones (Dig A Little Deeper), Late At Night, Love Me Like The Last
Time, Getting To The Point, How Do I Survive, HoldinīOut For Love,
You Couldīve Been The One, Take You Home, When Itīs Over & Lullaby.
Musicians on the
Stones album:
Dan Seals, Gene Page, Ray Parker Jr., Paul Jackson Jr., Jon Goin,
Steve Lukather, Nathan East, Mike Baird, Paulinho Da Costa, Shane
Keister, Dave Loggins, Shari Kramer, Lisa Silver, Diane Tidwell,
Rafe Van Hoy, Larrie Londin, Kido, Paul Worley, Bob Wray, Farrell
Morris, David Foster, Tom Kelly, Bergen White, Richie Zito, Eberhard
Ramm, Shelly Kurland, Charles Fearing, Jack Williams, Bill Paine, Ed
Greene, Steve Gibson, Denny Henson, kenneth Buttrey, Sealatron,
Bobby Thompson & Buddy Spicher.
Available from
Warner Bros/Original release year: 1980
Dan
Seals
-
Harbinger
"2nd album"
The Tracks are:
Canīt Get You Out Of My Mind, I Could Be LovinīYou Right Now, Itīs
Not Gonna Be That Easy, In My Heart, It Will Be Alright, I Donīt
Believe Iīll Fall In Love Again, Once In A While, Up To Me, Not
Every Heart Succeeds, Bad News & Harbinger Sage Or Fool.
Musicians on the
Harbinger album:
Dan Seals, Sherri Hiffman, Lisa Silver, Diane Tidwell, Jon Goin,
Bobby Thompson, Larry Byrom, Rafe Van Hoy, Steve Wilson, Steve
Gibson, Dan Huff, Duncan Cameron, Shane Keister, Randy McCormick,
Kelly Wilson, Bobby Odgen, Jack Williams, Tom Robb, David Hungate,
Bob Wray, James Stroud, Larrie Londin, Farrell Morris, Mike Lewis &
Shelly Kurland.
Available from
Warner Bros/Original release year: 1982
