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Darrell “Dash” Crofts, the soft-rock musician whose breezy harmonies helped define 1970s-era radio, has died. He was 87.
Crofts died Wednesday of heart failure at a hospital in Austin, his daughter, Lua Crofts Faragher, confirmed, noting he had battled heart issues for years and had been hospitalized for about a month.
Best known for co-creating the popular hit “Summer Breeze,” Crofts rose to fame alongside childhood friend Jim Seals.
The two Texans built a distinctive sound that fused folk, pop, country and jazz — earning them a place among the era’s defining acts, alongside America, Bread and the Carpenters.
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American soft rock duo Seals & Crofts performing, April 30, 1975. (Michael Putland/Getty Images)
The beloved singer-songwriter left behind a catalog of hits that turned laid-back melodies into chart-topping staples for Seals & Crofts.
Their run of success included Top 10 hits like “Diamond Girl” and “Get Closer,” as well as fan favorites such as “Hummingbird” and “We May Never Pass This Way (Again).”
Though often grouped into the “easy listening” category, Seals & Crofts’ work was deeply shaped by their devotion to the Baháʼí Faith, which emphasized unity and spiritual awareness — and frequently found its way into both their lyrics and live performances.
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“It became a driving force in their careers and the way they lived their lives,” Faragher said.
Crofts himself acknowledged that evolution in his songwriting.
Jim Seals and Dash Crofts of the rock and roll group “Seals & Crofts” pose for a portrait. (Ian Dickson/Redferns)
“You start out writing songs like ‘the leaves are green and the sky is blue and I love you and you love me’ — very simple lyrics — but you grow into a much, much broader awareness of life, of love, and of unity,” Crofts told Stereo Review in 1971. “It’s really great to be able to say something real in your music.”
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In 1974, in the wake of Roe v. Wade, they released “Unborn Child,” a track that drew protests and radio bans over its anti-abortion message.
“I think we got more good results out of it than bad,” Crofts later told the St. Petersburg Press, “because a lot of people called us and said, ‘We’re naming our children after you, because you helped us decide to save their lives with that song.’ That was very fulfilling to us.”
Crofts’ musical journey began in Cisco, Texas, where he was born in 1938 and quickly developed a talent for multiple instruments. His partnership with Seals started in their teenage years and carried them through early gigs, a stint with The Champs and eventually to Los Angeles, where they refined the mellow sound that would become their signature.
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(L-R) Dash Crofts and Jimmy Seals perform at Georgia Tech’s Alexander Coliseum on Oct. 22, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Tom Hill/WireImage)
Their breakthrough came in 1972 with “Summer Breeze,” a song whose sun-soaked chorus became shorthand for a more relaxed sound after the ’60s.
“That was the beginning of bigger concerts, bigger crowds, and we kept getting hits in the Top 40,” Crofts told the podcast “Inside MusiCast” in 2021. “That cemented us in the music business.”
By the early 1980s, the duo split, though they reunited periodically.
Crofts later released solo work, and the duo’s music was revived in recent years by family members performing under a new iteration of the group. Seals died in 2022.
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Dash Crofts from the music duo Seals & Crofts. (Luis Javier Lizarraga via AP)
For those closest to him, Crofts’ legacy goes beyond the charts.
“There’s not a time that we performed that we didn’t have hundreds of people coming up and expressing their love and often saying the music changed their life,” Faragher said.
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“There were so many people who loved them,” she added. “They were a constant service to mankind.”
She said that her father’s death, a few years after that of Seals, marked the end of an era.
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“That’s what makes it so painful — that it’s the end. But the music will always, always live on.”
Crofts is survived by his second wife, Louise Crofts; his children, Lua, Faizi and Amelia; and eight grandchildren, Faragher said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.