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Daryl Dragon, half of the 70’s music duo, Captain and Tennille built a sizable fortune doing what he loved most: playing music. He rose to fame in the early 1970s and, with his wife Toni Tennille, became a household name.

Dragon died on January 2, 2019, at age 76 from renal failure, according to CBS News. Although the couple divorced, Tennille was by his side at the time of his death. According to the Hollywood Reporter, no funeral services are planned based on Dragon’s request. Dragon also suffered from a neurological condition, similar to Parkinson’s disease. The condition was often made worse by stress or anxiety so Dragon made very limited public appearances as a result. Although he stepped away from the spotlight, he died with a net worth of $4.5 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

He shaped his image with this iconic band

As the son of a singer and composer, Dragon had music in his blood from the beginning.  Although a classically trained pianist, he preferred rock music over the prose from his training, according to The New York Times.  Early in his career, he played as a backup musician for The Beach Boys in late 1960s and early 1970s. While on stage, he’d often appear wearing his trademark captain’s hat. Eventually a Beach Boy frontman, Mike Love would introduce Dragon as the “captain of the keyboards.”

Although Dragon had played for the Beach Boys for several years before wearing the hat, he told The Boston Globe in 1976  it just worked when he put it on his head. “I just picked it up one night on the spur of the moment and that night they spotlighted me in ‘Help Me, Rhonda.’ It made a big hit, and I’ve been wearing it ever since.”

And made a splash with the perfect partner

Dragon and Tennille met in the early 1970s when they both worked on the musical Mother Earth in San Francisco, The New York Times reports. Their connection resulted in Tennille also signing with The Beach Boys as a backup singer and pianist.

Eventually, the duo went out on their own and performed together in nightclubs.  They scored a record deal and recorded the groundbreaking song, Love Will Keep Us Together. The single hit number one on Billboard singles chart in 1975. The song, originally written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield was also part of the album that won a Grammy that year too.

The couple owned the 1970s, launching album after album. Dragon produced all 10 of the couple’s albums, which contained hits like Muskrat Love and Do That to Me One More Time. The couple even tried their hand at television. But their show, which was similar to Sonny and Cher’s show, only lasted one season.

Dragon continued to produce later in life

Later in his career Dragon moved away from the spotlight. And began to produce other artists, according to The New York Times. Tennille pursued solo projects.

The couple divorced in 2014. Tennille eventually said the reason was that Dragon lacked physical emotion in the marriage. “I can say without exaggeration that he showed no physical affection for me during our very long marriage,” she wrote in a memoir published in 2016.

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