Captain & Tennille
Captain & Tennille
In 1972, Toni Tennille was a co-writer of the musical Mother Earth. Daryl “Captain Keyboard” Dragon, who got his nickname while touring with the Beach Boys from his signature skipper’s cap, took a job as the keyboardist for Mother Earth and the two hit it off romantically and musically, forming a nightclub act that charged $70 a night.
When two radio DJs urged the duo to record their cover of the Beach Boys song “Disney Girls” in 1974, they also recorded an original song “The Way I Want to Touch You” which attracted interest from several record labels. A&M Records, home to the platinum-selling male/female duo The Carpenters who had scored ten top 5 hits in the US from 1970-1974, signed them.
Captain & Tennille’s 1975 debut album featured seven originals, three Beach Boys covers and – at the suggestion of A&M’s A&R man – a cover of Neil Sedaka’s “Love Will Keep Us Together”. The latter was released as their first single and found massive success in North America. It reached #1 in the US & Canada, won a Grammy for Record Of The Year, and was the biggest song of of the year in the US. Even their Spanish version of the song “Por Amor Viviremos” reached #49 in the US. A&M followed it up with “The Way I Want to Touch You” and it reached #4 in both the US and Canada. Both songs also found success in New Zealand and the UK. The two married in November 1975.
- Love Will Keep Us Together
- Muskrat Love
- Do That To Me One More Time
- How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)
- We Never Really Say Goodbye
- Love Survives
- Unchained Melody
- Nobody Does It Better
- You Are So Beautiful
- Dixie Hummingbird
- Lonely Nights
- Heaven
- Honey, Come Love Me
- Song of Joy
- Lonely Night (Angel Face)
- Shop Around
- 1954 Boogie Blues
- Can’t Stop Dancin’
- You Need a Woman Tonight
- Keeping Our Love Warm
- Don’t Forget Me
- Disney Girls
- Circles
- Merry Christmas