Red Ferns
Dave LogginsJohn McClellan, the singer-songwriter who memorably had a chart-topping hit in 1974 with “Please Come to Boston,” died Wednesday at Alive Hospice in Nashville. He was 76. The cause of death was not released.
Loggins, the cousin of pop star Kenny Loggins, has sometimes been called a one-hit wonder because “Please Come to Boston” was his only hit in his solo discography, but he also had great success as a songwriter, writing primarily for country artists.
And, in an immeasurable sense, his greatest “hit” may be the theme song he wrote for the Augusta Masters golf tournament, which has been in use since 1982. The Tennessean The company says the golf theme is “the longest-running sports theme in history.”
He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1995.
“Please Come to Boston,” a plaintive song about lovers who can’t, or won’t, overcome the obstacles that prevent them from living in the same city, has long been an anthem for music fans struggling to make long-distance relationships work. In 1974, it reached No. 1 on what was then called the Easy Listening chart (since renamed Adult Contemporary) and No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance, the first of his four nominations.
Loggins released five albums and 13 songs in the 1970s, primarily on Epic Records, but Boston was his only solo work to receive a major public response.
However, he found success again in the ’80s, with a duet with Anne Murray called “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do.” The song debuted on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns; Murray and Loggins performed the song on the series. (The song had been recorded separately by Jermaine Jackson and a young Whitney Houston.) The collaboration reached #1 on the Billboard Country charts and #10 on the Hot 100 charts.
In 1985, Murray and Loggins jointly won the CMA Award for Best Vocal Duo of the Year for the success of “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do.” According to Tennessean Obituary, Loggins became the only unsigned artist to win a CMA Award. The two were also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group.
The list of artists who have recorded his songs includes 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 reached number one on the country charts: Kenny Rogers’ “Morning Desire” and Juice Newton’s “You Make Me Want to Make You Mine.”
The Masters Tournament’s theme song was named “Augusta” and had lyrics unknown to the public: He wrote the song after playing golf at the venue in 1981 and it was used by the network the following year, without lyrics.
“I just stopped and looked up at the pine trees and there was something different about the wind below me. It was different mentally,” Loggins told The Associated Press in 2019. “That course was a work of art. I looked out over the dogwoods and, like I always do when inspiration strikes, I started writing a song in my head. I had the first verse before I even got off the course.”
In 2021, he spoke about his career on the “All Things Vocal” podcast. interview He became friends with Judy Rodman, who called him a “reclusive genius.” He told Rodman that he was influenced by the fingerpicking style of artists like Donovan. “I walked into Capitol Records (on Nashville’s Music Row) one day and said, ‘Anybody here gonna listen to me sing?'” He found a willing ear, and Jerry Crutchfield signed him to a publishing deal at age 22. Folk label Vanguard released his debut album before he moved to Epic.
Loggins is survived by his three sons, Quinn Loggins, Kyle Loggins and Dylan Loggins, and one grandson, Braxton Loggins.
Per Mr. Loggins’ wishes, there will be no funeral service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Alive Hospice of Nashville.
