Jim Seals, Half of a Popular 1970s Soft-Rock Duo, Dies at 79

Teamed with Dash Crofts, he hit it big with “Summer Breeze” in 1972.

The two went on to have chart success with “Diamond Girl” and other songs.

Jim Seals, half of Seals & Crofts, a soft-rock duo who had a string of hits in the 1970s,

including the Top 10 singles “Summer Breeze” and “Diamond Girl,”

died on Monday at his home in Nashville. He was 79.

His wife, Ruby Jean Seals, said the cause was an unspecified “chronic ongoing illness.”

Mr. Seals and his musical partner, Dash Crofts, were still teenagers when they were asked to join

an instrumental group, the Champs, which had a No. 1 hit in 1958 with “Tequila.”

By the mid-1960s they had tired of the band and of the loud, sometimes angry strains that were infusing the hard rock of the time.