Toni Tennille

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Toni Tennille (born Cathryn Antoinette Tennille, 8 May 1940, Montgomery, Alabama) is one-half of the 1970s Grammy Award winning duo, Captain & Tennille. She attended Sidney Lanier High School and Auburn University in Alabama, where in the latter, sang with the big band music group, the Auburn Knights. Toni is a well-above-average height woman, at 178 centimeters (5' 10").

She became famous when she and her husband, the Captain, Daryl Frank Dragon, both accomplished musicians and songwriters, emerged in the early 1970s with their summer 1975 hit, "Love Will Keep Us Together", along with many others (see Captain & Tennille page). Tennille is also credited with vocals on Pink Floyd's magnum opus, The Wall and Elton John's hit "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me".

Tennille serves as an Ambassador of the Arts for the state of Nevada, among many other influential endeavors. Toni and Daryl were married on 11 November 1975. She is one of four girls born to Frank and Cathryn Tennille. Toni's sisters are Jane Tennille, Melissa Tennille and Louisa (Lulu) Tennille.

Captain & Tennille achieved stardom success during the 1970s and early 1980s. Toni's father, Frank Tennille, was known as Clark Randall and was a singer with several big bands, including Bob Crosby's Bobcats. Toni's mother, Cathryn was a hostess of a local Mongomery, Alabama TV Talk Show. Toni and her sisters would be in the studio from time to time. Toni who was studying classical piano as a child, would get opportunities to play on her mother's show for the exercise lady. She also studied dancing and singing (and you know what resulted). Occasionally, she along with her sisters would get the opportunity to dance and sing on the show. Toni Tennille attended Sidney Lanier High School and then Auburn University, where she studied music and was the lead singer with a popular campus band. In her second year of college, Toni's father decided to move the family to California, when the family furniture business closed. Toni's mother's show was running for a few years and she had to give it up and regretted it. Toni's parents divorced soon afterward, Toni was crushed, but she remained close to them both. Toni herself would soon discover the perils of divorce. In the deep south, it is customary, particularly in the time when Toni was growing up, to marry early. Toni married a drummer named Kenneth Shearer and she had always said that he was a lovely man, but they were so young and the marriage was not meant to be, they were divorced not too long after they were married. Toni then moved to California to be closer to her parents and sisters. She got a job as a file clerk and wrote music in her spare time. It wasn't too long after that that she would meet the love of her life, Daryl Dragon.

For years Toni Tennille's birth year was erroneously publicized as being 1943, as was their marriage date which is November 11, 1975 at The Silver Queen Saloon Wedding Chapel in Virginia City, Nevada. The wrong date was erroneously publicized as February 14, 1975. They renewed their wedding vows on November 11, 1995; their 20th wedding anniversary was covered in People magazine in 1995.

Contents 1 Early History and Collaboration 2 Popular Success 3 Current Success 4 Trivia 5 In Popular Culture 6 External links

[edit] Early History and Collaboration

It was reported that they met when they were in their late twenties, however, it was Daryl who was in his late twenties and Toni was about 31 years old in 1971. When they met in 1971 in San Francisco, Daryl Dragon had been performing for about six years as a keyboardist for The Beach Boys and Tennille was staging a musical she had written called Mother Earth, a rock ecology, at the Marines Memorial Theatre. Toni hired Daryl as a musician for the production; after which, in turn, he recommended Toni to the Beach Boys as a piano player, and she landed the gig as a touring keyboardist with them. Toni remembered that Carl Wilson had coolly leaned over toward the piano to make sure she was playing with perfection (and she was), so he slid on back to where he was strumming his guitar. She is recognized in music history books as the worlds first and only "Beach Girl". In other memories, Toni explained that she would get stopped by security as she tried to go onto the stage and she had to be escorted by the Beach Boys' manager on stage, letting security know she was with the band. The first time Toni heard the applause and screams from fans in the audience while she was a Beach Girl, she could physically feel the "good vibrations" of the cheers, it was incredible, she said. During touring with the band, traditionally, the Beach Boys would put band mates in hotel rooms together to remain fiscally conscious. When it came to Toni having a roommate, it was Daryl, but by then, Toni knew that there was something very special about Daryl and being a proper Southern lady, the justification for being roommates was clear and love was in bloom (in a hotel room in Passaic, New Jersey). It was around that time that Toni penned the first love song of many that she would write for Daryl, "The Way I Want To Touch You".

They soon discovered they made a great team on their own and began performing on a regular basis at The Smokehouse club in Encino, California (Los Angeles) (which does not exist anymore, there is a building on the lot now), initially billed as The Dragons. This is supposedly where they met who would become their longtime manager and personal assistant, Bruno and Carol Cicotti, who retired several years ago and are living in Florida, where their son Brad Cicotti, who did sound engineering for C & T, moved to many years ago for a job at one of the big studios there. Their popularity as a musical duo reached unprecedented heights for The Smokehouse which, after Dragon and Tennille released a single on their own label (Butterscotch Castle Records and later Joyce Records) as Captain & Tennille, eventually it led to a recording contract with A&M Records.

Their first single was a cover version of Neil Sedaka's "Love Will Keep Us Together". The song contained a verbal acknowledgment to its composer, as The Captain & Tennille worked the line "Sedaka is back" into the fadeout. The song spent four weeks at #1 in the U.S. in the summer of 1975 and became the top selling single of the year. They also received a Grammy Award for Record of the Year for this recording, which also gave Sedaka his first Grammy. On the night of the Grammy awards, Toni recalled the event and said she and Daryl got tickets for the family and limos picked up everyone and brought them out on one of the biggest events for the family. They were nominated in two categories, Best Vocal Performance by a Group and for Record of the Year, both for "Love Will Keep Us Together". The Best Vocal Performance Grammy went to the Eagles, for "Lyin' Eyes"; Toni and Daryl were crushed and thought they didn't have a chance for the other Grammy as "Lyin' Eyes" was also competing against them in that category, as well as Janis Ian for "At Seventeen" and Barry Manilow for "Mandy". They were thinking it would be Ian or Manilow as they sat in their seats at the event. They could hardly sit still as they waited for the category to come around at the end of the show. Stevie Wonder, the presenter, called out their names as winners of the Record of the Year award. Toni has said that she was so excited, she thought she levitated from her seat. Toni cried as they accepted their award, it was a great night for the entire family.

Toni and Daryl have been famous for many things besides their music. For example, Toni signature haircut, their pets, dogs and cats a like, but who could ever forget the first of a family of Bulldogs, Broderick and Elizabeth, who appeared on the album covers and the TV show as well as other things. The dogs, besides Broddy (who was the inspiration to the song "Broddy Bounce" and Elizabeth, were "Pistol Packin Peaches" or Peaches for short and Teensy, their current Bulldog as well as other breeds. Their German Shepherd "Spooner" was so big that when jumping up on Daryl, would prove to be about as tall as he was. They also have Australian Shepherds, Adelaide & Hubble (maybe a reference to the Robert Redford character in "The Way We Were"?). Many of the pets have gone on to dog and cat heaven, Daryl says that Broderick, Elizabeth and Peaches in heaven can finally run and breathe. We remember the pets fondly and have lots of memories of them in photos and footage. Let's not forget that the group was a family affair, Toni's sisters, Jane, Melissa and Lulu (who the last two were the primary background vocalists for many years on recordings, concerts and TV. The first album, "Love Will Keep Us Together" also featured Toni's sister Jane and mother, Cathryn Tennille. Daryl's family was involved as well, behind the scenes in the mastering and engineering process, Dennis and Doug have had successes in the music production arena. Some of the funniest (and as we look back, incredibly silly) memories and famous icons, like the Bionic Watermelon and the famous hat jokes. Which best of all, last, but in no way least, Daryl's hat collection, he has over 100 or maybe at this rate a few hundred, Captain's Hats! He may have condensed his collection by now, but the very first one that he bought was while he was on tour with the Beach Boys and he found an Army Navy Surplus store, picked up a Captain's hat and that night when he went up on stage, as he passed Mike Love, Daryl proclaimed that he was Captain Keyboard or alternatively, Captain of the Keyboards. So it stuck, from that point on, he was known as Captain Keyboard or as we just like to call him, The Captain. Daryl has always said it was shameless self promotion and a cheap shot, but he is just so incredibly funny that no one would ever call Daryl anything but an all around great man. So, any of you who played Trivial Pursuit and saw that question and answer - well, the true answer is not in the game exactly, the person who gave Daryl the name, was Daryl himself.

[edit] Popular Success

Over the next few years, the duo released a string of hit singles including "The Way I Want To Touch You", "Lonely Night (Angel Face)", "Shop Around", a cover version of Willis Alan Ramsey's "Muskrat Love" (previously popularized by America), and "You Never Done It Like That". Such was their level of success that they were given their own television show, but they were not happy with its format and asked to be released from their contract.

Neil Bogart signed them to a contract with Casablanca Records, and they reached Number One with their first single, "Do That To Me One More Time." Subsequent singles achieved only moderate success. They signed with CBS Records but, unable to find a niche there, were released from their contract.

[edit] Current Success

Throughout the '90s, they continued to perform various concert dates at venues around the world, frequently at Harrah's Lake Tahoe which was close to their home in Northern Nevada. One of the most lauded of their appearances in this decade occurred when they played a one-time-only date at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles in 1995 as part of their 20th anniversary as an act.

At the same time throughout the 1980s and '90s, Tennille enjoyed a second career as a big band and pop standards singer, mimicking the success of pop colleague Linda Ronstadt. She released several albums and performed with orchestras throughout the country, which she still does to this day.

She also enjoyed a year as the star of the Broadway tour of Victor/Victoria. At the end of that project, she and Dragon were to have embarked on a 25th anniversary tour; however, the stresses of the road proved too demanding and Captain & Tennille instead put an indefinite hold on their career as a performing duo.

Nevertheless, Captain & Tennille's popularity remained evident in the release of their Ultimate Collection: The Complete Hits on Hip-O Records (a subsidiary of Universal Records) in 2001 and More Than Dancing...Much More, a 2002 CD. The latter contains what was originally their final album in 1982, More Than Dancing, which at that time was released only in Australia, and is combined with selected tracks from their 1995 20 Years Of Romance, originally on K-Tel (re-recordings of their songs and cover versions of others), as well as five tracks never-before-released on vinyl or CD.

In 2003, British Electro-kitsch duo Bent sampled Toni's vocals into their hit "Magic Love", confounding British listeners, many of whom knew the voice was familiar but could not place it.

In November 2003, Tennille performed a benefit concert for the Reno Chamber Orchestra where her surprise guest was none other than Dragon. This was the first time they had publicly performed as Captain & Tennille in many years, and, as a result, a live recording (their first) was released to commemorate the event. Not available on commercial websites, the double-CD, An Intimate Evening with Toni Tennille, can be acquired solely through the Reno Chamber Orchestra website.

2005 marked a resurgence for Captain & Tennille when Brant Berry, the vice president of a small Portland, Oregon-based entertainment company, R2 Entertainment (short for Respond 2 Entertainment), an avowed fan, signed an agreement with Captain & Tennille to release three separate projects featuring the duo. The first—and most anticipated—was the first-time-ever pressing of Captain & Tennille's 1976 variety series onto a 3-disc DVD set containing 11 complete episodes and lots of bonus musical tracks. Secondly, R2 re-released all six of their albums (both from the original A&M and Casablanca labels) on newly-remastered CDs. Several of the CDs were previously only available in Japan. The new CDs, packaged both as individual CDs and in a box set, contain brand-new liner notes written by Toni Tennille. Thirdly, a brand-new recording by Captain & Tennille was released: a 3-song Christmas CD, whose main title is "Saving Up Christmas." This release is in anticipation of a full-length Christmas CD, which R2 planned to be released in the fall of 2006, Captain & Tennille's first complete original album to be produced in more than a decade. However, due to corporate restructuring, R2 is no longer doing that project with the Captain & Tennille and currently Toni & Daryl are investigating options to get the CD released as well as the 1976 Captain & Tennille Television Christmas Special that aired on ABC.

The couple is currently constructing a home in the Sedona region of Arizona in addition to their home in Palm Springs, California. They previously lived in Nevada where Tennille was appointed "Ambassador For The Arts" by the governor of the state. They continue to have love keep them together, making beautiful music for us all.

[edit] Trivia

• Tennille's father was singer Clark Randall (a.k.a. Frank Tennille), a member of the legendary Bob Crosby's Bobcats. Toni Tennille's real first name, Cathryn, is the same as her mother's; the elder was a TV talk show hostess in Montgomery, Alabama.
• Dragon's father was the legendary conductor, Carmen Dragon.
• Tennille has also worked as a session singer (most frequently partnered with Beach Boy Bruce Johnston), performing backup on no fewer than three Elton John albums including Caribou, Blue Moves, and 21 At 33 (some vocally arranged by Dragon) and most notably (and prominently) on the classic "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". She also appeared as a backup vocalist on tracks by Art Garfunkel and The Beach Boys, as well as Pink Floyd for whom she performed backing tracks on The Wall album.
• The Captain and Tennille have no kids, adopted or otherwise, despite 31 happy years of marriage (and still counting).

[edit] In Popular Culture

• On the TV show MXC, the character "Captain Tenneal" is a spoof of the name of their act.
• The singing duo have been referenced several times on the popular show The Simpsons.
  • In Episode 7 Season 16, Homer and Marge appear dressed as Captain and Tennille, respectively. Homer, in a captain costume, plays the piano to a lyrically different version of "Love Will Keep Us Together."
  • In Episode 19 Season 9, Homer is assigned to a nuclear submarine under the command of "Captain Tennille."
• The song "Love Will Keep Us Together" was used in a breakup scene in the 2001 film Get Over It.
• The song "Love Will Keep Us Together" played during the final credits of the 2005 film Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
• The song "Do That To Me One More Time" is used in the 2003 "What's Love Got to Do With It?" episode of The Drew Carey Show. In a very humorous and somewhat disturbing scene, the Drew Carey character and an 11 year-old girl, Madison (portrayed by Emma Hunton), sing a karaoke duet of the song.
• In the TV sitcom Will & Grace, Will sings "Love Will Keep Us Together" in the Season 3 episode "An Old-Fashioned Piano Party."
• In the TV sitcom Frasier, Frasier Crane writes a letter to his ex-wife Lilith that includes the phrase "love will keep us together" in the Season 1 episode "The Show Where Lilith Comes Back." Several characters pointed out that his letter plagiarizes the song by Captain & Tennille.
• In the 2006 South Park episode "Cartoon Wars Part I", Family Guy's Peter Griffin dressed up as Tennille to Captain Kirk's Captain.
• In the Season 4 episode "Academic Decathlon" of Malcolm in the Middle, the song "Love Will Keep Us Together" is playing as Lois pulls up to drive Malcolm home.
• In the pilot episode of That '70s Show, "Love Will Keep Us Together" plays in the background of the Forman's party; Kitty Forman sings along for part of the song.
• In the pilot for the series Arrested Development, "Love Will Keep Us Together" plays when, during a yacht party, George Bluth Sr. announces that his wife, Lucille Bluth will be taking over his company following his retirement.

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Toni Tennille's site
• Captain & Tennille's career on A&M Records with gallery, international discography
• 1975 singles