Daryl Dragon

Daryl Frank Dragon (August 27, 1942 – January 2, 2019) was an American musician known as Captain from the pop musical duo Captain & Tennille with his wife, Toni Tennille.

Born into a musical family, Dragon was the son of Eloise (Rawitzer) and conductor, composer, and arranger Carmen Dragon, and the elder brother of Dennis Dragon, a member of the 1960s pop combo the Dragons and the 1980s surf band the Surf Punks. His godfather was actor and comedian Danny Thomas.

In 1962, Dragon became a member of the band Charles Wright and the Wright Sounds, which included the future Watts Band member John Raynford. Dragon studied piano at San Fernando Valley State College from 1963–1966, dropping out to form a band with his brothers. He also played with The Yellow Balloon in 1967.

In 1968, Dragon and his brother Dennis formed a studio band called the Mission, which produced a one-off single on the small Bet Records label: "Calmilly"/"Galing Made It". The songs later appeared on a joint album in 1971 titled Me and My Brother (aided by another brother, Doug, who sang the vocals). The album was released on CD in 2005.

In the late 1960s, Daryl and his brothers Doug and Dennis recorded sessions for a psychedelic soul/rock album as "the Dragons", but they were unable to get a record label to release the album. The album was titled BFI, which stood for "Blue Forces Intelligence". In 2007, UK label Ninja Tune discovered that the recording engineer, Donn Landee, still had the master tapes and they released the album.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.