RIP Jim Seals

 Jim Seals, who was 1/2 of the duo Seals & Crofts passed away Monday 6/6/2022.  Jim Seals was 79, cause of death was reported as a “chronic ongoing illness.”

Seals and Crofts were one of the singer songwriter explosion of the 1970s, along with everybody from James Taylor to Jim Croce to Gordon Lightfoot, to Paul Simon and countless others.

Seals and Crofts had a nice run of 8 Top 40 hits (in USA) between 1972 and 1978, including 3x Top 10.  Quite respectable.  And they were really big in 1972-73.  GREAT harmonies.  I wasn't a huge fan, but have their greatest hits album.  And Summer Breeze is one of those songs that's pretty close to perfect.  Side note:  when my (now adult) son was pre-school age, Seals and Crofts' song "Hummingbird" caught his attention and he would request it often.  

I learned a couple of things about the duo when poking around the internet:

Seals and Croft's second album includes the song "Cottonmouth", which was recorded 2 years later by The Doobie Brothers.  Its a really good song, that I had not previously realized was a cover. Here's the Original, and the Doobie Brother's version.

In 1974, Seals & Crofts released a song called "Unborn Child" over their record company's objection.  The song was released shortly after the Roe V Wade decision.  Unsurprisingly it created a stir, and probably hurt their career.  Later Seals would say "If we’d known it was going to cause such disunity, we might have thought twice about doing it. At the time it overshadowed all the other things we were trying to say in our music."  I didn't remember this controversy, but thanks to Youtube, I was able to play it.  And I kind of remember it, so it must've been on the radio in Pittsburgh.  As a 13 year old kid, I didn't have a clue about the lyrics at the time.  Not:  I'm not intending to be political, or imply support for either side of that issue, which continues to stir emotions almost 50 years later.  

Anyway, rest in peace, Jim Seals.