NEW YORK (AP) Daryl Dragon, the cap-wearing "Captain" of Captain & Tennille who teamed with then-wife Toni Tennille on such easy listening hits as "Love Will Keep Us Together" and "Muskrat. Daryl Dragon made the trip up to San Francisco to audition in 1971, and he didn't just get the job -- he got the girl, too. At age 20 he was a member of the band. She was genuinely interested in. His real name was Daryl Dragon, and his death on January 2, 2019, had fans everywhere feeling both nostalgic and melancholy. All rights reserved. Daryl DixonDaryl Dixon ChromeFKGoogle Chrome In her 2016 book. [15] Dragon, contacted by TMZ on January 22, 2014, stated: "I don't know why Toni filed for divorce. He hated being center stage and hated cue cards. [13][14] Tennille indicated the condition was debilitating to Dragon's abilities as a musician. [14], Tennille filed for divorce from Dragon in the State of Arizona on January 16, 2014, after 39 years of marriage. Net Worth. Dragon started out training to be a concert pianist but decided that he preferred blues and boogie music instead of the classics. [2][3] They had a number one hit song in 1975 with "Love Will Keep Us Together." The song won a. Dragon also made significant contributions with keyboarding and musical scoring on the Beach Boys' 1972 release Carl and the Passions "So Tough"; he co-wrote the track "Cuddle Up" with Dennis Wilson. Toni was fascinated; Daryl was cold as ice. He would only respond to my embrace by cupping his hand and giving me a little pat on my back; it was the same kind of awkward, tentative hug you would give to an old aunt that you hardly knew'. Chris Walter/Getty Images Jan. 22, 2014 -- It's over for Toni Tennille and Daryl Dragon. In her memoirs, Tennille described their marriage as loveless and lacking physical affection. She says Dragon, now 73, "just didn't know what love was." [12][13], On July 8, 1980, Tennille sang the national anthem at the Major League Baseball All-Star game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. [12], In September 2010, Tennille publicly clarified her husband's condition as "a neurological condition (later confirmed to be essential tremor), which causes him to have tremors". 15:19 GMT 31 Mar 2016 They divorced in July 2014. At age 20, he was a member of the bandCharles Wright and the Wright Sounds; at age 25 he played withThe Yellow Balloon; and at 26 he and his brother, Dennis, formed a band calledThe Mission. Daryl Dragon, one half of popular '70s duo The Captain & Tennille, died Wednesday, according to his publicist Harlan Boll. 'Occasionally I would go up and hug him, and his body would grow stiff in my arms. But who was Captain? It was the first time they had publicly performed as Captain & Tennille in many years. The album was titled BFI, which stood for "Blue Forces Intelligence". [citation needed], Tennille filed for divorce from Dragon in Arizona on January 16, 2014, after 39 years of marriage. The first signs are a face that shows no expression, arms that do not swing when a person walks, a hand tremor, speech that becomes progressively softer and slurred, and a pill-rolling hand motion in which a person rolls his thumb and fingers back and forth. "I can say without exaggeration that he showed no physical affection for me during our very long marriage," she said. These incidents, coupled with films of his performances and interviews, fit with the behaviors seen in autism spectrum disorders, in which people have difficulty relating and communicating with other people and often have rigid, repetitive behaviors. Daryl Dragon (1942 - 2019) was one half of the 1970s soft rock superstar duo Captain and Tennille. The disease can cause any sign of brain damage: difficulty reasoning out problems, dementia, depression, fear, anxiety, difficulty chewing and swallowing, drooling, inability to stay asleep at night and stay awake during the day, difficulty controlling urine, constipation, dizziness, loss of the sense of smell, extreme fatigue, unexplained pain and loss of sexual desire and performance. Dragon was able to flourish as a successful musical performance entertainer because of the support and determination of his wife, even though he rarely spoke more than a few words to his audience, acted very strangely in public and in private, and was unable to offer any affection whatever to his wife. Tennille was the singer, a woman, which was clear because Captain was a guy wearing a ship captain's hat and, often, a shirt that said CAPTAIN. You didn't need to know (or like) their music to dope out who was who in the '70s pop phenom Captain & Tennille, whose "Love Will Keep Us Together" was the top hit of 1975. In 1979, Captain & Tennille made the jump to Casablanca Records, then the premiere label for disco music, home to Donna Summer and Village People. The couple had found a niche as the embodiment of mid-'70s California good-life romance, and it didn't hurt that the couple really were in love. An Ashley Beedle remix of the single heightened the danceability of the original ambient track. Toni also shared a story about the strangest gift she got in 1976 from a fan -- a pair of stuffed muskrats holding hands, which was created in honor of Captain and Tennille's hit cover of America's "Muskrat Love. 'Daryl was never an emotionally demonstrative man. Well, perhaps melancholy isn't the right word, considering the relentless peppiness of the duo's signature tune, "Love Will Keep Us Together. [7] In 1968, Dragon and his brother Dennis formed a studio band called The Mission, which produced a one-off single on the small Bet Records label: "Calmilly"/"Galing Made It". For five years, her mother, also named Cathryn (ne Wright), hosted a daily television show in Montgomery.[1][5][6]. She moved to Florida to be with her sister and girlfriends and has never looked back. At the time, Frank was on the cusp of a promising music career and had been touring the country playing the Big Band circuit as a solo act and with crooners like Bob Crosby. Toni was rushed to the hospital with what was left of the finger in a glass of ice water but gangrene set in and the finger had to be amputated. Dragon later reciprocated by recommending Tennille to the Beach Boys when the band needed an additional keyboardist, and they hired her. The musical was a success locally, went on the road to San Francisco and Los Angeles in 1971, and eventually made it to Broadway for a few dates at the Belasco Theatre in October 1972. He suffered from anxiety, worried about everything all the time and was a chronic hypochondriac. [21] The couple moved from Reno, Nevada, to Prescott, Arizona, in 2007. He is a member of famous Actor with the age 77 years old group. $4.5 Million. He had replacement surgery on both knees and then refused post surgery physical therapy in favor of ringing the intercom buzzer for Toni to empty his urine container. Tennille had reported on her blog in 2010 her husband's neurological condition was characterized by such extreme tremors he could no longer play keyboards. She also reveals that Dragon underwent a failed hair transplant that made him self-conscious, so he always wore his trademark nautical cap, even in bed. He wore dark glasses all the time because his eyes didn't contract properly in bright lights. I was proud of you. He began to go bald in his early thirties and had hair transplants in which plugs of hair were removed from the sides of his head and sutured into the bald spots. Popular restaurant in The Villages shut down after discovery of health violations, Villager skips court date in battle over refusal to leave mans house, Wife arrested at square still in jail week after refusing ride home with husband, Villager with long history of criminal activity arrested in Village of Santo Domingo, Pair with cocaine arrested in parking lot of hotel in Lady Lake, Conceptual plan to be unveiled for $20 million rebuild of Paradise Recreation Center, Duke Energy warns of traffic delays due to movement of transformer, Ninety-year-old Villager gets 10th hole-in-one, Governor touts No. Dragon was unaware of the termination of his marriage until he was served with the divorce papers. In 1976, the two embarked on a TV career with the debut of a variety show simply called The Captain & Tennille. Toni and theater director Ron Thronson put together a musical revue, Mother Earth and played their first gig in San Francisco. During the duo's period of highest popularity, Tennille also worked as a session singer (most frequently partnered with the Beach Boys' Bruce Johnston), performing as a backing vocalist on the Elton John albums Caribou, Blue Moves, and 21 at 33 (some vocally arranged by Dragon) and most notably on the hit track "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". Dragon embraced the name, and even played it up by wearing a captain's hat. At that time, Daryl Dragon (son of composer Carmen Dragon) was working as a keyboardist for the Beach Boys, where thanks to his habit of wearing a ship captain's hat while performing he got his stage name "Captain". Left: Captain & Tennille on the cover of their 1980 album 'Keeping Our Love Warm.' Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Sometimes doctors prescribe surgery or deep brain electrical stimulation. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. She started drinking brandy and suddenly it became two brandies. When the couple attended parties, he would often go into a corner by himself or just disappear. Who Is Daryl Dragon's Wife? External links are provided for reference purposes. She explained that when she hugged him, he would go stiff in her arms and pat her on the back. He was eventually diagnosed with megalophthalmus (which means large eyes) that may be associated with cataracts and glaucoma. He even wore it while visiting the Vatican City. But the Captain's story ends on a peaceful, if sad, note: The two remained friends, and Tennille moved back to Prescott, Arizona, in 2017 to help care for her ailing ex-husband. The Captain was wrong. When he was a child, other children made fun of his very large eyeballs. It was also Billboard's year-end #1 single, and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Although Tennille was no longer associated with the musical by the time it reached Broadway, she was credited as the composer under her married name, Shearer. She almost lost her right index finger. A&M. Casablanca. As the disease progresses, a person takes shorter and slower steps, has difficulty getting up from a chair, and the muscles become stiff and hurt. And Toni still believed after all the disappointment with his barren attitude that he was even capable of intimacy and tenderness. A wife who was arrested at a town square in The Villages remains in jail a week after refusing a ride home with her husband. A conceptual plan for rebuilding Paradise Recreation Center will be presented next week to the Amenity Authority Committee. Two people with cocaine were arrested after a traffic stop in a parking lot at a hotel in Lady Lake. 3. Captain, on 25th August 1975. "When I was offered movie roles I said, 'What if they have to see my hands?'" "[24], Despite their divorce, Tennille and Dragon remained friends until his death from kidney failure on January 2, 2019. Dragon played with the Beach Boys without being an actual Beach Boy -- not so much replacing Brian Wilson as filling in, for a long time, while Brian sorted through some heavy stuff. Local flutist, songwriter, cowgirl, loving mother and devoted wife, Kathryn Rose Henn died April 26th, 2013 at the age of 61. In 1979, Neil Bogart signed them to a contract on his Casablanca Records label. Even Queen Elizabeth found them boring and fell asleep when they performed at a White House concert in 1976 when Gerald Ford was President. Their relationship became sexual but she had to initiate all sexual contact and her feeling of isolation in the relationship only increased. Caroline Howe For Dailymail.com, Fashion forward! At age 20, he was a member of the band. He played keyboards and she sang to form the very popular musical duo,The Captain & Tennille, in the 1970s and 1980s. Daryl Dragon has been died on Jan 2, 2019 ( age 76). Born August 27, 1942 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He endlessly explored. It appalled me!". His mother, a classical singer, was diagnosed as being bipolar and had a prefrontal lobotomy that made her unable to communicate rationally with other people so she spent the rest of her life in bed. Daryl Dragon, the hat-wearing musician familiar to 1970s music fans as half of the bestselling duo the Captain & Tennille, died Tuesday in Prescott, Arizona at age 76. A popular restaurant in The Villages was shut down last week after the discovery of health code violations. He explored draconian diets that consisted of whole-wheat pasta and bland steamed veggies. Toni Tennille, A Memoir, by Toni Tennille with Caroline Tennille St. Clair, published by Taylor Trade Publishing is available onAmazonApril 1, The comments below have not been moderated, By ", "This guy explained that he'd taken 1-year-old muskrats in the prime of their lives," Tennille explains to People. [19] Tennille later said that Dragon had reacted positively to the Today segment and told her: "I saw you on The Today Show. It never happened.". In 2014, after 39 years of marriage, Tennille filed for divorce. ABC News is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites. [22] During the promotion of her autobiography on The Today Show in the spring of 2016, Tennille said the reason for their divorce was Dragon's "inability to be affectionate". Born into a musical family, Dragon was the son of Eloise (Rawitzer) and conductor, composer, and arranger Carmen Dragon, and the elder brother of Dennis Dragon, a member of the 1960s pop combo The Dragons and the 1980s surf band the Surf Punks. A&M Records later released a Greatest Hits album (1977) which peaked at #55 on the US Top 200. "Captain" Daryl Dragon wore shades to cover his oversized eyes, Toni Tennille reveals in her memoir. Dragon's tremors prevented him first from playing the keyboard and then from even getting out of bed, and he died of kidney failure. He died of cancer at age 69. In 1962, Dragon became a member of the band Charles Wright and the Wright Sounds, which included the future Watts Band member John Raynford. He wanted to quit his ABC television show because he did not want to talk at all on the show or read cue cards. 'Occasionally I would go stiff in her memoir of isolation in the 1970s and 1980s I can without... 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