The Captain & Tennille

The Captain & Tennille is a guilty pleasure of mine. I also love Barry Manilow, Clay Aiken, Neil Sedaka, and The Carpenters. I think a lot of people would be embarrassed to admit they like that kind of music. Don’t be embarrassed! Own it!

Growing up in the 70’s, I often sang along with the songs of the Captain & Tennille. From Love Will Keep Us Together to Do That To Me One More Time to Muskrat Love, they were all winners with this young girl. Has anyone else noticed that a lot of their songs had super long titles?

The duo married in 1975 and started building their long list of hit singles shortly after. They were so popular that ABC gave them their own variety show. I don’t remember watching it. Do you? I think I was watching Little House on the Prairie instead. Their variety show ran from September 1976 to March 1977. The show was canceled not because of poor ratings but because the couple wanted out of the contract so they could focus more on their music. Smart move.

Trivia

• Danny Thomas is Daryl Dragon’s godfather.
• Daryl Dragon’s dad, Carmen, wrote the score to the Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
• An elementary school in the next town over from me is named after Daryl’s dad (Carmen Dragon Elementary).
• Both Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille played keyboards with the Beach Boys in the early 70’s.
• Toni sang backup vocals on Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1979) as well as some of Elton John’s recordings.
• Mike Love of the Beach Boys gave Daryl his nickname of Captain. It was actually Captain Keyboard.
• Captain & Tennille recorded their first single for only $250. The label of the 45 gives a phonetic spelling of Tennille so fans would know how to pronounce it.
• Queen Elizabeth visited the White House during a time the Captain & Tennille were performing. The Queen fell asleep during Muskrat Love.
• Their variety show aired on ABC on Mondays and went up against The Jeffersons and Little House on the Prairie.
• Some of the guest stars on their variety show were Andy Griffith, Jackie Gleason, Raymond Burr, and Leonard Nimoy.
• The Captain was asked to do a dance routine in their variety show. He flew across the country (California to New York) to complain to the head of ABC. He said he didn’t know how to dance and then demanded a new producer (which he got). Could he not have accomplished this with a phone call? This sounds like a Robert Reed Brady Bunch thing except Daryl was probably nicer.
• Toni got her own talk show in the early 80’s called the Toni Tennille Show.
• Toni Tennille tried her hand at acting and guest starred on some episodes of The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.

Divorce and Death

Toni Tennille filed for divorce in 2014 after almost 40 years of marriage. Daryl had been ill and there are rumors that she divorced him for health insurance reasons. This was during the days of the almost free Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). My ex-husband wanted to end our marriage for the same reason. (I found other reasons to end the marriage.) Even though the Captain & Tennille divorced, they stayed friends. I think the love was always there. Toni was with her “ex” at his bedside at the time of his death on January 2, 2019.

The music of the Captain & Tennille is part of my childhood of which I have very good memories. I think I’ll listen to some of their music today and reminisce.