Who is This '70s Music Star?

in #music6 years ago

1st Clue: He's from Texas and started out as a drummer.

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2nd Clue. He and his partner recorded 19 gold and platinum albums -- two of which went triple platinum.

(platinum = a million sold, triple = 3 million)
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3rd Clue. He played at the Fillmore West in January of 1970

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4th Clue: This is how you might remember him and his partner from the '70s.

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Learn the Answer: Their first appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson

(At a time when typically over 7 million people watched the Tonight Show.)


Dash Crofts (from drums to mandolin) & Jim Seals (from sax to guitar)


The Most Successful Backup Band in History?

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Jim Seals on sax, Dash Crofts on drums, Glen Campbell on guitar


Remember the instrumental hit Tequila? It was actually the "B" side of a single that became a number 1 worldwide hit in 1958, recorded by a group called the Champs. Because of the sudden success, The Champs needed a backup band for touring, and the young Dash Crofts (drums) and Jimmy Seals (sax) ended up touring with them for years. Somewhat later Glen Campbell (guitar) joined the backup band.

Glen Campbell, who died this year, went on to become the hottest session guitarist in Los Angeles before becoming a singer, television host, and actor. Like Seals & Crofts he had a slew of successful recordings, selling over 45 million records, with 12 gold albums, (four platinum and one double platinum.) He's known for his singing, but he was also a fantastic guitarist, if you're interested here's a compilation clip of some of his solos.

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Here's What They Sounded Like


The President of Warner Brothers Records with Seals & Crofts in the Studio

This is a chance to hear a bit of their musical journey in their own words, and hear them in the studio doing a couple of their hits. As you'll see, in addition to sax and guitar, Jim Seals was a Texas State Fiddle Champ at the age of nine!



In 1973 they hosted the popular TV Concert Series Midnight Special


By the way, the electric lead guitarist you hear is Louie Shelton. Louie was an highly successful session guitarist and music producer in Los Angeles. Prior to that, he had worked with both Glen Campbell and Seals and Crofts. He produced all of Seals & Crofts Warner Brother albums (except Year of Sunday) and played electric guitar on their albums. He also played in the band on Glen Campbell's TV show. If you are a Glen Campbell or Seals & Crofts fan, or a guitarist, check out my career retrospective interview with Louie on AllAboutJazz


Musical Prejudice

We are all guilty of this, myself included. Based on labels we tend to quickly judge musicians. Thanks to the popularity of the "Soft Rock" radio format, Seals & Crofts became inextricably linked to that label. Actually, given their hits, that is understandable. However, their music contained elements of jazz (also country, rock, world music, and classical.) For example, on one track, Stars, Jimmy Seals played sax with jazz greats Chick Corea (piano) and Stanley Clarke (bass).

So when you think of Seals & Crofts, you think of gentle Soft Rockers. But listen to this live recording from 1976, with Jimmy Seals on sax -- played at times through a synthesizer. Dash Crofts solos on electric mandolin with pedal effects. They were players in every sense of the word, and could have held their own with any rock band.


It still blows my mind to think Dash Crofts went from playing the drums to playing mandolin. After the Champs he visited his brother who had a mandolin hanging on the wall as a decoration, and Dash began messing around with it. How did Jimmy Seals become such a proficient acoustic guitarist? During the height of their early commercial success they toured for a couple of years with only a bass player. Playing songs like this they were able to win over audiences that were used to hard rock bands.


Hope you enjoyed the post and thanks for stopping by!


Photos of Dash Crofts with motorcyle from his old MySpace page. Desert background photo free use from pxhere, collage and effects by @roused

Champs and Fillmore Poster Photos from www.sealsandcrofts.com an excellent resource for all things Seals & Crofts. In the original Champs photo Jim Seals in kneeling in the first row. Cut and pasted into the second row with Dash and Glen.

Later photo of Dash, Glen, Jim was originally of Dash, Louie Shelton, and Jim. Collage by @roused
Visit Louie Shelton's site for more info and photos.

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Immer wieder interessant für mich, neue Musiker zu entdecken und Hintergrundgeschichten dazu zu lesen :-)

Yes, it is interesting that several very popular musical artists were only insider tips here in continental Europe. ;-) On the good side, that gives me something to write about.

Danke für deine Insider-Tipps, sie erweitern meinen musikalischen Horizont :-)

Nice post. I listened to Seals and Crofts when I was younger and still enjoy some of their hits, Summer Breeze, I'll play for you, Hummingbird to name a few and still sing along when I am alone in the car.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Thanks for stopping by doc! It's great to have YouTube and access to so many gems that otherwise would be long forgotten.

You're right about that. I'll sit around and listen to YouTube videos sometimes for hours. I really enjoy the older stuff. Today's music just doesn't have any soul.

#life
Babe Ruth : Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.

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