I was a computer programmer working for an oil company in Los Angeles.
So what were you up to?
Cue the Rockumentary theme!
Dan Seals and John Coley met at high school in Dallas and formed a rock band. Dan was the younger brother of Jim Seals, of Seals & Croft. He liked to affect an English accent at times and was a fan of the British Invasion bands which is where he got his professional name.
They went to L.A. in 1971 and signed with Herb Alpert’s A&M Records, which put them on as the opening act for Led Zeppelin, a poor choice for an acoustic duo. They had one hit in Japan, and then A&M terminated their contract.
They recorded “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight” as a demo and played it for a VP at Atlantic Records, who thought little of it. But a VP at an Atlantic subsidiary heard it through the wall, liked it and signed them. They had a string of hits in the Seventies,
Dan Seals became a successful Hot Country act in the Eighties. He died in 2009 of cancer.
Coley still performs and produces.
In 76 I put together my first Band.
We did Blues, Blues, Rhythm & Blues, and Blues.
On December 13, 1976, I was on the last leg of The U.S. Navy Steel Band’s Bicentennial Tour as featured soloist. My manifest says that on Monday, December 13, 1976 - we did an 8 AM appearance on KNBC in Los Angeles and then played three afternoon shows at the Disneyland Fantasyland Stage. That evening we participated in Disneyland’s Main Street USA Christmas Parade. The next day, we cut our afternoon shows at Disneyland and went to Burbank to rehearse for the Tonight Show. The 2 PM rehearsal went great and I got to play with Doc Severinsen, Tommy Newsome and my teacher’s teacher, the great Ed Shaughnessy. Alas the show’s taping (at 4 PM) found us still sitting in the Green Room at 5 minutes ‘til 5 and we were bumped from the show (thanks to a very funny improvisational exchange between Bob Newhart and Mr. Carson). The producer invited us back the next day, but our Master Chief was steamed and refused to cut anymore Disneyland shows, so I never got to play on the Tonight Show.
After 554 shows in 48 states over 11 months, I was looking forward to Christmas leave, which began December 22 and lasted until December 30th. (On the afternoon of the 30th, we flew to Philadelphia to play a New Year’s Eve Ball and The Mummers Parade on New Year’s Day.