'Summer Breeze' Seals and Crofts singer Jim Seals dies, aged 80

8 June 2022, 11:01

One on One movie trailer featuring Seals and Croft

Seals and Crofts had massive hits with songs like 'Summer Breeze', 'Diamond Girls' and 'Get Closer'.

Jim Seals, the singer from 1970s soft rock icons Seals and Crofts, has died at the age of 80.

Seals’ death was announced on Tuesday (June 7) on Facebook by John Ford Coley, who was half of England Dan and John Ford Coley with Jim Seals's older brother Dan.

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"Wow. Don’t even know where to begin. Jimmy Seals passed away today," Coley said.

"I spent a large portion of my musical life with this man. We toured together, he and Dash invited us to sing on Seals and Crofts records, and we played with him for years.

"He was Dan’s older brother, it was Jimmy that gave Dan and me our stage name, he taught me how to juggle, made me laugh, pissed me off, encouraged me, showed me amazing worlds and different understandings on life, especially on a philosophical level."

He added: "We didn’t always see eye to eye, especially as musicians, but we always got along and I thought he was a bona fide, dyed in the wool musical genius and a very deep and contemplative man.

"He was an enigma and I always had regard for his opinion. I listened to him and I learned from him.

"We didn’t always agree and it wasn’t always easy and it wasn’t always fun but it definitely was always entertaining for sure."

Seals and Darrell George 'Dash' Crofts had known each other as teenagers and went on to join The Champs with Glen Campbell and Jerry Cole.

Summer Breeze - Seals & Croft #1 Hit(1972)

The foursome spun off the group Glen Campbell and the GCs, before Jim and Dash left to form Seals and Crofts, scoring massive hits with 'Summer Breeze', 'Diamond Girls' and 'Get Closer'.

Seals and Croft split in 1980, but had a brief reunion at the start of the 1990s, and again in 2004 for the comeback album Traces.

Seals is said to have suffered a stroke in 2017. He is survived by his wife, Ruby, and their three children Joshua, Juliet, and Sutherland