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By BILL FRISKICS-WARREN
Published: March 26, 2009
Dan Seals, who performed as England Dan in the folk-pop duo England Dan and John Ford Coley and later returned to his roots as a country singer and songwriter, died Wednesday at his daughter’s home in Nashville. He was 61.
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Lois Raimondo/Associated Press, 1995
Dan Seals
The cause was complications of the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma, said Tony Gottlieb, his friend and manager.
Mr. Seals’s first widespread success as a performer came with the smooth-voiced harmonies of England Dan and John Ford Coley. Their first single, “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight,” reached No. 2 on the pop charts in 1976. The duo had eight more light-rock hits over the next four years, including “Nights Are Forever Without You,” which also reached the Top 10 in 1976.
Mr. Seals enjoyed even greater acclaim in the country field, where he had 11 No. 1 singles from 1985 to 1990. His 1985 hit “Bop,” which crossed over to the pop chart, won the Country Music Association’s award for Single of the Year in 1986. “Meet Me in Montana,” a duet with Marie Osmond, also won honors at the Country Music Association Awards that year.
In the video for his 1989 single “They Rage On,” Mr. Seals, whose Bahai faith taught tolerance and unity, addressed prejudice by depicting an interracial relationship.
As a member, with Mr. Coley, of the Dallas group Southwest F.O.B., Mr. Seals had a minor hit with “The Smell of Incense” in 1968. He sang and played saxophone in the band. His nickname, England, was given to him by his brother Jim.
Danny Wayland Seals was born Feb. 8, 1948, in McCamey, Tex. His father, an amateur guitarist who performed with Bob Wills and Ernest Tubb, worked as a pipeliner in the oil fields of West Texas. Mr. Seals’s older brother, Jim Seals, played in fiddle championships as a child and later had several pop hits as part of the 1970s duo Seals & Crofts.
At his death, Dan and Jim Seals were working on an album, which they planned to release sometime this year.
In addition to his brother Jim, Mr. Seals is survived by his mother, Sue Taylor of Wolfe City, Tex.; his wife, Andrea, known as Andi; their daughter, Holley May Lizarrga of Nashville; their son, Jesse, of Whites Creek, Tenn.; and seven grandchildren. Mr. Seals is also survived by two sons from a previous marriage, Jimmy, of Hendersonville, Tenn., and Jeremy, of Clarksville, Tenn.
