How Did Jim Seals Die? Cause Of Death, Funeral, Obituary

Jim Seals of the 1970s soft rock duo Seals & Crofts, whose hits included “Summer Breeze”, “Diamond Girl” and “Get Closer”, died yesterday at the age of 80.

Noise11 has broken the news, confirmed on the Facebook page of John Ford Coley, who co-led another popular ’70s duo with “England” Dan Seals, Jim’s younger brother. The cause or place of death has not been cited so far. No cause of death was immediately released, and the family requested to respect their privacy at this hard time.

Coley wrote:

“Dan adored his older brother and it was because Jimmy opened doors for us that we came to Los Angeles to record and meet the right people. This is a difficult question on so many levels, as this is a passing musical era for me. And it will never happen again as his song said. He belonged to a group that was unique. I am very sad about this, but I have some of the best memories of all of us together.”

Seals were born in Sidney, TX, in 1941. In the 1950s, he teamed up with fellow Texan Darrell “Dash” Crofts. They moved to California, where they wrote songs for other artists before striking gold with their music.

They met when Crofts was a drummer for a local band. Seals later joined a band, Dean Beard and the Crew Cuts, where he played guitar. With Beard, they moved to Los Angeles to join The Champs after “Tequila” hit No. 1 in 1958. Seals also spent a stint in 1959 in Eddie Cochran’s touring band.

After Seals unsuccessfully joined The Dawnbreakers, he played with Crofts again and they decided to do it as a duo, with Seals on guitar, sax, and violin and Crofts on guitar and mandolin.

The pair signed a new deal with Warner Bros. Records in August 1971. Their first album on their new label failed to chart, but their second album, “Summer Breeze,” charted at No. 7 in 1972. selling over a million copies.

Her next LP from 1973, ‘Diamond Girl’, went gold in the US. It contained the hits ‘We May Never Pass This Way (Again)’ and the album’s title track. 1975’s ‘I’ll Play For You’ also went Top 40 in Australia.

Seals & Crofts stopped recording around 1980 after Warner dropped them. in total, they left a long ten LPs. In 1991 they officially reunited for a year, and in 2004 they released their first album since their original split, ‘Traces’.

Seals has long been a public defender of the Baha’i faith.  He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Ruby Jean, and his three children, Joshua, Juliette, and Sutherland.

We have no update regarding his funeral.

Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.

Leave a Comment