From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Aug 14, 2003  1:18 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Dash Crofts
 
DASH CROFTS

Born Darrell Crofts, 14 August 1940, Cisco, Texas

Dash Crofts began his career as a singer and drummer, later taking 
up the mandolin. He met Jimmy Seals in junior high school and they
began playing together for Dean Beard and the Crew Cats in early 1957.
Seals already had recognition, winning a state fiddle championship at 
the age of 9, but by his late teens, Jimmy's main instrument was the
tenor sax, which he can be heard playing on Beard's 1956 Sun recording
of "Rakin' and Scrapin'". Soon, Seals & Crofts were recording under the
wing of the influential radio personality Slim Willet, famous for writing 
the monster hit "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes". Willett, who
became their manager, also owned a record label : Edmoral, later 
Winston Records. For Winston, the Crew Cats cut the instrumental
"Sneaky Pete"/"Benguela" (credited to Jimmy Seals and leased to 
Carlton Records), which was heard by Dave Burgess, the leader of
The Champs. Burgess was urgently looking for replacements for sax
player Chuck Rio (aka Danny Flores) and drummer Gene Alden, who
had left the Champs after a conflict with Burgess. Willet would only
agree to the transfer of Seals and Crofts, if Dean Beard could also join 
the Champs (as a pianist). Thus the Champs became a six-piece
outfit. Beard would soon be fired, but Seals (sax) and Crofts (drums) 
stayed with the Champs until the group disbanded in 1965. 

Crofts moved to California in 1958 and was soon followed by Seals.
Dash was drafted in 1962 and assigned as a personal clerk to Gen.
Westmoreland at Fort Bragg because of his high typing speed. He 
returned to the Champs after two years, following the intervention of 
Gene Autry, owner of the Challenge label that recorded the Champs.

After the demise of the Champs, Dash returned to Cisco and took up
a regular job arranged by his father -- for one day. Before long, he was
back in Southern California, writing and recording with Jimmy again.
In 1966 they backed Gene Vincent on his Challenge recordings. Soon
Crofts and Seals constituted a new band, the Dawnbreakers, which
broke up when all the members were converted to the Baha'i faith.
Dash and Jimmy retreated to consider their musical direction in the
light of their new religion.

In the seventies Seals and Crofts emerged as a soft-rock duo. Seals
played guitar, saxophone, and fiddle, while Crofts handled drums, 
mandolin, guitar and keyboards. From 1972 to 1976, the duo had a 
string of five gold albums for Warner Bros, with an additional greatest
hits compilation certified double platinum.

Their music was generally lightweight and one rock encyclopedia calls
them "the super-wimps of the 70s".

Recently they have reunited for a new CD, released this year.

Seals and Crofts website: http://www.sealsandcrofts.com/sealscrofts1.html
(this part concentrates on the early years, up to 1965).