Although of overbearing stature and presence, Dan Seals was a gentle man. A gentleman. He was in fact a Southern Gentleman. Dan spoke with softness and comfort in a way that conveyed interest, concern, and even love to each person he addressed. His profound love of people oozed from him like the juice of an over-ripe pineapple – without effort and simply because of its very nature. When in his presence you felt as if you were not only noticed, but listened to and cared for.

Dan’s music was as unique as his personality. In a genre of music which tends to dwell on heartbreak, heartache, pain, and suffering (what Country music is best known for) -Dan created some memorable music expressing beauty and joy. His hit song “Bop” has a stirring rhythm and expresses an enthusiasm for life rarely matched in any genre. In “God Must Be A Cowboy” Dan demonstrates a profound appreciation of nature and a deep appreciation of all of the senses available from life.

Playing a normal right handed guitar from the left hand position without changing the string positions resulted in some unusual chord formations that cannot be matched by anyone using the standard string arrangement. In spite of his extremely high level of proficiency in various guitar techniques Dan once told me that he had come to accept as a hard reality that he was primarily a singer rather than a guitar player because he just couldn’t make a guitar sound like everyone else. My attempt to explain that nobody else could make a guitar sound exactly as he did seemed to be rejected off-handedly. He had previously explained that when he was growing up and first learning the guitar his brother Jim (of Seals and Crofts fame) played their only guitar from a right handed position, and being left-handed Dan reasoned that he should learn to play it from the opposite side. I’ve tried to play some basic chords that way, and the “simple” chords are not only much more difficult to form, but there wasn’t a standard method of forming chords that could have been studied and learned. Dan had to have been entirely self-taught. His determination to learn must have been tremendous to have overcome such difficulties and attain the extreme proficiency that he did. He was ten times the guitar player that I will ever be, and I haven’t had such obstacles in my path.
In “Big Wheels in the Moonlight” Dan gave us a glimpse of what it feels like to be a dreamer – one who knows there is more to be, do, and have … and who dreams of one day getting the opportunity to expand beyond the temporary limitations.

I had written a song about a conversation that I had had with him, but I never played it for him because of something that he had told me. He asked me if I remembered the name of a girl who had been with a small group of folks sitting around and playing guitars and singing on a particular occasion before he had become a well known artist. He said that someone had contacted him and said that the chord changes and melody of one of his songs was taken from HER song which she had played it for him on that occasion. He said that he had discounted her claim entirely because he knew himself enough to know that he would never intentionally do anything like that, but that after reflecting about it he had realized that it was possible that he had unconsciously picked up a chord sequence or melody line and used it in one of his original songs later without having realized it – like George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” and “He’s So Fine”. It caused Dan to refuse to participate in any socializing that included informal guitar playing after that.

In the song I wrote about Dan I refer to my having expressed regret to him over some of the difficulties he was undergoing regarding relationships with women. I thought his reply was profound so I made a song about it. He had said: “Whatever it takes to help us grow.”

On a different occasion around 1991 a situation arose in which I felt responsible for his having not been able to meet one of his music idols - Conway Twitty. It is a long story, but basically I was visiting with Dan in his trailer that he used for touring, and then we went and watched Conway Twitty do a complete performance. Conway's drummer noticed us in the wings watching, and later came to visit with Dan. Probably “Pork Chop” was checking to see if he felt that Dan was worthy of a meeting with Conway Twitty. The drummer was making note of the fact that Dan had had a successful “pop” career, and pointed out that Conway had also had a crossover career in hard rock. I laughed and had made some derogatory comments in that regard (typical for my personality at the time I suppose), and it appeared that "Pork Chop" ultimately decided it best that Dan not be invited to Conway's bus for an introduction. I was oblivious of what was really going on at the time, but Dan explained it to me after the drummer had left. Dan’s only comment had been: “Why would anyone ever even say something like that.”
Like many wonderful people in my life, I owe him debts that I will never be able to repay.


Dan was a man who would have stormed the gates of hell in order to save someone he loved. I recognized that in him because my dad was also such a man. Jim Seals had become involved in a little known religion and Dan had taken it upon himself to learn everything about it so that he could show his brother that he had made a mistake by accepting it to be true. After an exhaustive study Dan himself embraced the religion, and neither of them would “preach” about it from the stage. They would often arrange meetings after their concerts where people could inquire about the religion if they so desired. My first wife had been involved in making arrangements for locations for that before I had ever even met her, and she continued to do that for them for some time afterward. Usually a conference room in a nearby hotel was rented for such a purpose, and brief presentations were made to explain some of the basic tenets of the faith including the independent investigation of truth; the essential equality of men and women; the need for a universal auxiliary language and system of weights and measurements; the recognition that man is involved in an ever expanding civilization, and an idea called “progressive revelation”. I have seen Dan, Jim, and others from their entourage including Dash Crofts, John Ford Coley, and other performers talking patiently with people through the wee hours of the night in an attempt to provide information and answer questions. All of this was done not only without remuneration, but often at their own expense.

In his solo career, he released sixteen studio albums and charted more than twenty singles on the country charts. Eleven of his singles reached Number One:

“Meet Me in Montana” (with Marie Osmond); view link ;

“Bop” (also a pop hit that went to #42);
view link ;

“Everything That Glitters (Is Not Gold);
view link ;

“You Still Move Me” view link
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“I Will Be There” view link ;

“Three Time Loser” ;

“One Friend” view link ; “Addicted”; “Big Wheels in the Moonlight”; “Love on Arrival”; & a cover of Sam Cooke’s “Good Times”.

As England Dan in England Dan and John Ford Coley he sang “I’d Really Love to see You Tonight” (by Parker McGee) which reached #2 in the second half of 1976 and becoming their only gold single
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other hits include "Nights Are Forever Without You" (#10 in 1976-77) view link .

"It's Sad to Belong" (#21) and in 1977

"Gone Too Far"(#23) in 1977 ;

"We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again" (#9 in 1978) view link ;

and their last top-40 hit, "Love Is the Answer"

My personal favorites include “Late at Night” view link .

and “God Must Be a Cowboy” view link ;

Perhaps Dan Seals most striking quality was his genuine humility. Regardless of age, sex, class, economic status, social standing, educational background, or any other factors, I know of no one who was ever made to feel inferior in Dan’s presence. He was a rare, beautiful, and gentle man whose death is a loss to us all.