‘Summer Breeze’ Singer Dash Crofts Dead at 85
Cisco, Texas native Dash Crofts, half of soft rock duo Seals & Crofts, died Wednesday due to complications from heart surgery, according to TMZ. He was 85.
RELATED: ROCK MOMENT – The Clash ‘Rock The Casbah’
Crofts and Jim Seals cowrote their 1972 hit single, “Summer Breeze,” which peaked at No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The track was produced by Louie Shelton, and it appeared on the duo’s studio album by the same name.
Shelton announced Crofts’ death Thursday morning. Seals died in 2022.
Seals and Crofts met as teenagers in their home state of Texas, and moved to California to begin touring with the Champs in 1958 after the group’s “Tequila” reached No. 1.
RELATED: Summer Nights and My Radio: 25 Great Songs to Close Summer
In 1963, Crofts, along with Seals, Glen Campbell and Jerry Cole left the Champs to form Glen Campbell and the GCs. The group lasted a few years before breaking up. Crofts would return to Texas following his departure.
Crofts would later return to California to reunite with Seals in a band called the Dawnbreakers. After the band spilt, the pair decided to play on as a duo.
Between 1972 and 1976, Seals & Crofts would release five studio albums that would achieve RIAA Gold status, with Summer Breeze eventually achieving 2x Platinum status.
“Summer Breeze” was covered by the Isley Brothers in 1974, which went on to chart on the U.S. and U.K. charts.
The pair took a hiatus from music in 1981, opting not to renew their contract with Warner Brothers. They briefly reunited to perform and tour between 1989 and 1992, and again in 2004 to record their first studio album since 1980, Traces.
Away from Seals & Crofts, Crofts would spend time living in Mexico, Australia and Nashville. In Nashville, he’d spend time playing and recording country music.
He was reportedly living on a ranch in the Texas Hill Country prior to his death.
