Dan Seals dies of cancer

Dan Seals, a duo with John Ford Coley, died at 59 of cancer. Seals had 11 number 1 hits on the country charts between 195 and 1990, including 9 consecutive number 1 songs.

Seals was born Feb. 8, 1950 in McCarney, Texas. He lived in a two-room house with his parents, older brother Jimmy - of Seals & Crofts fame - and his grandparents. While brother Jimmy and Dad were out on the road with various country bands - Jim Reeves and Ernest Tubb - Dan spent time with his grandparents.

At 10, Seals moved to Dallas with his mom. While there, he released a single release with a group called Theze Few. He also meet John E. Colley there. They were in a band together and soon were writing. In 1968 the acid rock band, released an album called "Smell Of Incense" under the name of Southwest F.O.B. The band lost their deal, and the following year, Seals and Colley became an acoustic act in the Dallas area under the name of Coley and Wayland. They then became England Dan and John Ford Coley with a little name suggestion from brother Jimmy. By 1971, they were opening for Elton John in England.

They went on a 1 1/2-hiatus, performing low-key shows. By 1975, the duo started recording again and had a gold single in 1976 with their big hit 'd Really Love To See You Tonight.

They 1980, they broke up. Seals headed to Nashville and signed with EMI. His first single, Everybody's Dream Girl, went to number 18 on the Billboard chart in 1983. A few more singles charted, but were not hits. He hit the top 10 in 1984 with God Must Be a Cowboy.

At that point, the hits started flowing with every single he released until 1990 hitting at least number 9. Number one hits included Meet Me In Montana with Marie Osmond, Bop, Everything That Glitters (Is Not Gold), You Still Move Me, I Will Be There, Three Time Loser, One Friend, Addicted and Big Wheels in the Moonlight He had two more number 1 songs in 1990 - Love on Arrival and Good Times.

That was the last time he had hits. Two more singles with Capitol fared poorly, and he signed with Warner, releasing four singles from 1991-94, but none getting higher than 43 on the chart.

After leaving Warner, he recorded for Intersound and then his own label.

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