Seals and Crofts Co-Founder Dash Crofts Dies at 87

Darrell "Dash" Crofts, the singer-songwriter who formed the 1970s soft-rock duo Seals and Crofts with childhood friend Jim Seals and scored hits including "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl," died Wednesday in Austin, Texas. He was 87.

Crofts died of heart failure at the Heart Hospital of Austin, according to his daughter, Lua Crofts Faragher. She said her father had endured heart problems for several years and had been hospitalized for about a month.

Born Darrell George Crofts in Cisco, Texas, in 1938, he earned his nickname as a child when his mother entered him and his twin sister, Dorothy, into a beauty contest as "Dot and Dash." Crofts took up piano at age five and drums by 10, leading to early gigs in the rockabilly band Dean Beard and the Crew-Cuts. There, as teenagers, he met Seals, a saxophonist, and the two struck up a lifelong friendship and musical partnership.

After high school, they moved to Los Angeles and joined The Champs, known for their 1958 instrumental hit "Tequila." Crofts' time with the group was interrupted by a two-year Army stint at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, starting in 1962. They later played briefly in a band led by Glen Campbell before forming the...