After a marriage lasting nearly 40 years and a fruitful musical partnership, 70s pop icons the Captain & Tennille are splitting up. Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille are getting a divorce. The couple was married on Valentine’s Day, 1975, just as their first album was released. That album, “Love Will Keep Us Together,” won the Grammy for album of the year, and the single of the same name hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and became an emblem of the decade.
“Captain” Daryl Dragon, 71, started out as a keyboardist for the Beach Boys, and it was lead singer Mike Love who gave Dragon the nickname. He liked it, and took to wearing a captain’s hat. Toni Tennille, now 73, was a successful backup singer and keyboardist when the couple met, and later went on to become a songwriter in her own right.
The Captain & Tennille achieved a string of top-five hits in the mid-to-late 70s and, all told, they have sold more than 23 million albums.
It was “Love Will Keep Us Together,” though, written by Neil Sedaka and Howard, Greenfield, that brought them the greatest acclaim. It stood for the romantic notion that love alone can be strong enough to sustain a relationship forever. As anyone who has been married knows, of course, it takes a great deal more than love to make a marriage work. The pair hasn’t publicly disclosed the reason for their divorce, but sympathetic fans can surely understand the myriad practical issues that can undo a marriage.
If you’re considering or going through a divorce, you know the tumultuous emotions involved. It’s good to keep in mind that a divorce is a beginning as well as an ending, and that even storied lovebirds aren’t immune from trouble. Let’s hope their divorce gives them both a fresh perspective.
Tennille and Dragon currently live in Arizona and they have no children together.
Source: Reuters, “‘Love Will Keep Us Together’ duo Captain & Tennille to divorce,” Patricia Reaney, Jan 22. 2014
