‘Captain’ half of successful ’70s duo
SINGER and pianist Daryl Dragon was best known as ‘‘The Captain’’ of 1970s soft rock duo Captain and Tennille.
Captain and Tennille were best known for their Grammywinning 1974 hit song Love Will Keep Us Together, as well as the hits Muskrat Love in 1976, and
Do That to Me One More Time in 1980.
They also hosted their own television variety series from 1976 to 1977.
Dragon died from kidney failure in Arizona on January 2, aged 76.
Toni Tennille, who married Dragon in 1975, was with him when he died.
‘‘He was a brilliant musician with many friends who loved him greatly.
‘‘I was at my most creative in my life, when I was with him,’’ Tennille said in a statement.
The couple divorced in 2014 but remained friends.
Tennille said in a 2010 blog post that Dragon was suffering from an unspecified neurological condition that gave him hand tremours, seriously affecting his ability to play keyboards.
Dragon said in 2017 that his problems were a result of medication and his health had improved.
Daryl Frank Dragon was born in Los Angeles on August 27, 1942.
His father, Carmen, was a composer and conductor, and his mother, Eloise (nee Rawitzer), was a soprano who sang on radio programmes.
Dragon was trained in classical piano but did not take to it.
‘‘I seemed to be at war with myself in my musical tastes,’’ he told The Globe.
‘‘I could appreciate the great compositions, but I also liked the boogie beat.’’
He played with Fats Domino and BB King and was also a backup keyboard player for the Beach Boys in the mid1960s and early 1970s.
It was with the Beach Boys that Dragon got his stage name, thanks to his habit of wearing a ship captain’s hat while performing.
He met Tennille when they both toured for the Beach Boys, and they began performing together.
They signed a record deal in 1974, releasing Love Will Keep Us Together, which held on to the No 1 spot on the charts for eight weeks in the summer of 1975.
Captain and Tennille also toured England, Australia and Japan.
In 1976, they sang at the White House during the bicentennial celebrations of the American Revolution. — Reuters/ Wikipedia