Daryl Dragon, the Captain in The Captain and Tennille, has died in Arizona from renal failure at age 76.
Daryl Dragon formed The Captain and Tennille with his wife Tony Tennille in 1974. He had been the keyboard player for The Beach Boys. She was their backing singer.
Daryl and Toni began performing together in the Santa Monica area in the Beach Boys downtime. One of their early live songs at this time was Toni’s ‘The Way That I Want To Touch You’. It later became a number 4 US hit for the duo.
The Captain and Tennille had their first hit with their first single, Neil Sedaka’s ‘Love Will Keep Us Together’. It gave them global recognition and a number one hit in the USA and Australia.
The Captain and Tennille went on to have eight US Top 40 hits including the erotic ‘Do That To Me One More Time’, another number one US and number three Australian hit. It was basically a song about multiple orgasms.
Daryl came from a musical family. His father Carmen Dragon composed scores for films including ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ in 1956. He won an Oscar for his work on Gene Kelly’s ‘Cover Girl’ in 1944.
Toni filed for divorce in 2014 after 39 years of marriage but remained friends.
Daryl is credited on a Bob Smith album as Captain Keyboard. He scored The Beach Boys 1972 Carl & The Passions album and also wrote the coda in ‘Don’t Go Near The Water’ on The Beach Boys ‘Surf’s Up’ album.
Daryl Dragon has also done session work for Survivor and contributed to The Carpenters ‘Made In America’ album.
Prior to his death, Daryl had been unwell and unable to perform since 2014.
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