Red ferns
Dave Loggins, a singer-songwriter who scored a memorable hit in 1974 with “Please Come to Boston,” died Wednesday at Alive Hospice in Nashville. He was 76; no cause of death was released.
With “Please Come to Boston” as the only hit in his solo discography, Loggins — the grandnephew of pop star Kenny Loggins — has sometimes been labeled a one-hit wonder. But he also enjoyed a highly successful career as a songwriter, primarily for country artists.
And in an unquantifiable sense, his biggest “hit” may be the theme song he wrote for the Augusta Masters Golf Tournament, which has been in use since 1982. An obituary in the Tennessean says the golf theme is “the longest-running sports theme in history.”
In 1995, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The plaintive “Please Come to Boston,” a song about lovers who can’t—or won’t—overcome the obstacles that would keep them in the same city, has long been an anthem for music fans who couldn’t make a long-distance relationship work. In 1974, the song reached No. 1 on what was then the easy listening chart (now renamed adult contemporary) and No. 5 on Billboard’s Hot 100. It earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, the first of his four Grammy nominations.
In all, Loggins released five albums and thirteen songs in the 1970s, mainly on Epic Records, but “Boston” remains the only solo recording of his that really caught on with the public.
However, he found success again in the ’80s as a duet partner with Anne Murray on “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do,” a song that got its start on the CBS soap opera “As the World Turns.” Murray and Loggins performed the song on the show. (It was also recorded separately by Jermaine Jackson and a very young Whitney Houston.) The joint recording reached No. 1 on the Billboard country chart and No. 10 on the Hot AC chart.
In 1985, Murray and Loggins shared the CMA Awards’ Vocal Duo of the Year award, based on the success of “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do.” According to his Tennessean obituary, this made Loggins the only unsigned artist ever to win a CMA Award. The duo was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group.
The list of artists who recorded his songs included Willie Nelson, Joan Baez, Ray Charles, Tanya Tucker, Toby Keith, Reba McEntire, Alabama, Wynonna Judd, Johnny Cash, Three Dog Night, Don Williams, Lee Greenwood, Smokey Robinson, Crystal Gayle, John Conlee and Restless Heart. Two of his compositions, Kenny Rogers’ “Morning Desire” and Juice Newton’s “You Make Me Want to Make You MIne,” reached No. 1 on the country charts.
His theme for the Masters had a name, “Augusta” — and a generally unheard set of lyrics. He wrote it after playing golf at the venue in 1981, and it was picked up for network use the following year — wordless.
In 2019, Loggins told the Associated Press: “I stopped, looked up at the pine trees, and the wind down there was just different in some ways. Spiritually, it was different. That track was just a work of art. I looked at some dogwoods and, man, I just started writing the song in my head, which is what I do when I get inspired. I had the first verse before I even got off the track.”
In 2021, he discussed his career in a 2021 “All Things Vocal” podcast interview with Judy Rodman, who called him “a reclusive genius.” He told Rodman that he was influenced by the fingerpicking style of artists like Donovan. “One day I walked into Capitol Records (on Nashville’s Music Row) and said, ‘Does anybody here listen to songs?’” He found a willing listener and Jerry Crutchfield signed him to a publishing deal at age 22. The folk label Vanguard released his debut album before moving to Epic.
Loggins is survived by three sons, Quinn Loggins, Kyle Loggins and Dylan Loggins, and his grandson, Braxton Loggins.
At Loggins’ request, there will be no funeral. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Alive Hospice in Nashville.