Dan Seals, who got his start with the soft-rock duo England Dan & John Ford Coley, was born on this day (Feb. 8) in 1948 in McCamey, Texas. After the duo disbanded in 1980, Seals reinvented himself as a country singer. It was there he truly shone, releasing 11 No. 1 hits and picking up two trophies from the Country Music Association.
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The “England Dan” Days
Danny Wayland Seals grew up in a musical family, with older brother Jim joining his own soft-rock duo, Seals & Crofts. It was also Jim Seals who bestowed the nickname “England Dan” upon his younger sibling, whose fixation with the Beatles prompted him to briefly adopt an English accent.
Their father, E. W. “Waylon” Seals, was a pipe fitter and repairman for Shell Oil who also played guitar and bass with musicians like Ernest Tubbs and Bob Wills. He taught his younger son to play upright bass, and soon Dan was playing in the family band.
In 1958, Dan Seals moved to Dallas with his mother following his parents’ divorce. During his time at W. W. Samuell High School, he met John Ford Coley. Both joined the psychedelic pop group Southwest F.O.B. With Coley on keyboards and Seals playing saxophone and singing, the band scored a minor hit in 1968 with “The Smell of Incense.”
Eventually, Seals and Coley broke off on their own, heading to California in 1969. As England Dan & John Ford Coley, the pair scored six Top 40 hits in the mid-’70s, including “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight,” which hit No. 2 on the Hot 100 and topped the Easy Listening chart.
[RELATED: Luke Bryan and Dan Seals Deliver a Duet That Stands as an Iconic Classic]
Dan Seals Goes Solo
Ultimately, England Dan & John Ford Coley disbanded in 1980, and Seals first pursued a solo career as England Dan. Three years later, he moved to Nashville, signed with Capitol Records, and began recording country music as Dan Seals.
He cracked the Top 20 with his first single, ““Everybody’s Dream Girl”, which hit No. 18. His subsequent releases also reached the Top 40, with “God Must Be a Cowboy” peaking at No. 10 on the country singles chart. This kicked off a string of 16 consecutive top 10 and No. 1 singles that lasted through 1990, including the 1985 Marie Osmond duet “Meet Me in Montana” and “Everything That Glitters (Is Not Gold).”
Dan Seals died on March 25, 2009, in Nashville at age 61 after battling mantle cell lymphoma.
Featured image by Bettman Archives/Getty Images
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