KWXY Presents ● A Classic Interview with Captain and Tennille

Publicity photo of Captain & Tennille from their ABC Television show, 1976.

Captain & Tennille were a husband-and-wife recording duo whose biggest success occurred with a string of hits and five gold and platinum albums throughout the 1970s. They also hosted an ABC-TV variety show, The Captain & Tennille Show between September 1976 and March 1977.   

Singer and keyboardist Toni Tennille was born Cathryn Antoinette Tennille in Montgomery, Alabama on May 8, 1940.  Musician, songwriter and keyboardist Daryl Dragon was born Daryl Frank Dragon on August 27, 1942 in Los Angeles, California.  Dragon’s father was famed conductor/composer Carmen Dragon.  In 1972, Dragon was a keyboardist for The Beach Boys, earning his nickname because he wore a ship captain’s hat during performances.  He and Tennille met during an audition for a keyboardist in San Francisco, California where Dragon performed for Tennille, landing the job.  He in return recommended her to The Beach Boys, with whom she toured for a year and became the band’s one-and-only “Beach Girl.”

Married on November 11, 1974, their first hit came in 1975 with “Love Will Keep Us Together.”  Written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, the single went gold within a few weeks and went on to win the Grammy Record of the Year.  The Spanish language version, “Por Amor Viviremos,” charted as well marking the first time that two versions of a single charted together. 

Other Top 10 hits followed, including “The Way I Want To Touch You,” “Lonely Night (Angel Face),” Smokey Robinson’s “Shop Around” and “Muskrat Love,” a cover of a minor 1972 hit by Willis Alan Ramsey. 

Publicity Photograph of Mr. Dragon and Ms. Tennille in 1978 ABC television variety series

The duo continued to perform both together and as session singers throughout the rest of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.  Tennille was a backing vocalist on several major releases, among them the albums Caribou, Blue Moves and 21 at 33 for Elton John and the 1979 album, The Wall by Pink Floyd.  Tennille filed for divorce in 2014, citing a lack of affection.  However, the two remained close friends until Daryl Dragon’s death from kidney failure at age 76 in Prescott, Arizona on January 2, 2019 with Toni Tennille at his side.

Listen to a Classic Interview with Captain and Tennille today at 1pm on The Wink Martindale Show on KWXY Music Radio 92.3 FM ● 1340 AM ● streaming at kwxy.com and ivoxradio.com