Captain & Tennille to divorce

[JAZZ4JEFF]

Much to my amazement, Daryl Dragon has posted on their web site that Toni is beginning divorce proceedings. I thought it was a hoax, but it was confirmed to their email list. Look for the initial post on http://www.captainandtennille.net/.

Then, here is the follow up email. Gee, this is so sad....


I am sadly confirming that the information posted on C&T's official website: www.captainandtennille.net is CORRECT and not a hoax. Daryl Dragon did update the website on January 17, 2014. At this time I don't have any other updates or information to share regarding the "pending" divorce. Let's keep Daryl and Toni in our thoughts and wish them the best in this extremely difficult and emotional change in their lives. We can hope for a positive outcome and that they do work things out in the future.



Sending love and hugs to all of you, Austin

 

[Jamesj75]

Thanks for bringing this news to our attention, Jeff. I am also a big fan...

 

[Glenpwood]

Are we sure the "divorce" isn't for medical reasons? I know Daryl suffers from Parkinson's like tremors but isn't actually afflicted with Parkinsons. Medical costs has caused quite a few couples to divorce later in life to protect the spouse from financial ruin.

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

But if that were the case, why in the world would they have announced it on their website? Wouldn't they have just kept it to themselves to protect their privacy, finances, scrutiny of his illness, etc.....

 

[JAZZ4JEFF]

No, it seems to be bitter by the tone of the website posting. Here is an email from their Yahoo group:
Toni did file for divorce.
Divorce is a matter of public record. If you go here:
http://apps.supremecourt.az.gov/publicaccess/ and type in: Dragon and put in
Daryl's month of birth (August) and year (1942). They have Daryl's name
spelled name wrong and Toni's month of birth wrong but it is definitely
them.

 

[JAZZ4JEFF]

Public Access to Court Information - Case Search

Case Information
Case Number: P-1300-DO-201400041
Title: In Re the Marriage of: CATHRY
Category: Civil
Court: Yavapai County Superior
Filing Date: 1/16/2014
Judge:
Disposition Date:

DARUL F DRAGON RESPONDENT - RT1Date of Birth: 08/1942

CATHRYN A TENNILLE PETITIONER - PE1Date of Birth: 08/1940

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

Very sad - how many years married?

 

[Rudy]

Very sad - how many years married?

According to a bio, they tied the knot in 1975, after the success of "Love Will Keep Us Together".

 

[JAZZ4JEFF]

It's now hit the tabloids. Here is TMZ:

Say it ain't so ... there's no Muskrat Love left for Captain & Tennille ... they're getting divorced ... and the Captain tells TMZ he didn't see it coming.

Toni (Tennille) filed legal docs in Arizona. They've been married for 39 years.

If you don't know ... you should. They had a string of hits in the 70s, including "Love Will Keep Us Together," "Muskrat Love" and "Do that to Me One More Time."

They were discovered by Neil Sedaka at The SmokeHouse restaurant in Burbank, near NBC.

Daryl Dragon (The Captain) is 71. Yeah, it's Dragon.

Daryl tells TMZ ... "I don't know why she filed. I gotta figure it out for myself first." He also said they're still living together in the same house.

It's a sad day for muskrats.

 

[Dave]

Muskrats????!!!!

Why not just state: "Love DIDN'T keep them together????!!!!


-- Dave

 

[JAZZ4JEFF]

It moved quickly. Here is the National Enquirer:

CAPTAIN & TENNILLE DIVORCE SHOCKER
-A+A

Published on: January 22, 2014
by BOB HARTLEIN and BRETTE TROST, NATIONAL ENQUIRER
Photography by: Getty Images Entertainment

Love CAN’T keep them together as CAPTAIN & TENNILE’s 39 year marriage is on the rocks, The ENQUIRER has learned.

FANS of the Captain & Tennille were shocked when word leaked out recently that the singing duo’s 39-year marriage was on the rocks – but few realized that their relationship had been affected by a heartbreaking tragedy.

Their longtime fan website disclosed on Jan. 16 that Toni Tennille had “met with a divorce attorney in Phoenix, Ariz.” According to the site, the pair “appeared to the public as...the ideal model for a ‘rock-solid’ married pair. But almost all people naturally evolve over time...”

When The ENQUIRER contacted a spokesperson and asked if a divorce was in the works, we were told “no comment.”.”

The entertainers – best known for their hits “Do That to Me One More Time,” “Muskrat Love” and the classic “Love Will Keep Us Together” – tied the knot in 1975, the same year they released their first album. After a successful career, Toni, 73, and 71-year-old “Captain” Daryl Dragon retired to their Prescott, Ariz., dream home in 2008. But all has not been well. Although Toni still enjoys performing on occasion, Daryl suffers tremors from a neurological condition similar to Parkinson’s disease, which makes it difficult to accompany his wife on keyboards.

“Their marriage hit a rough patch when Daryl took ill,” a friend of the couple revealed. “Sadly, his condition forced them to downsize to a smaller home because it became too difficult for Toni and Daryl to take care of the big house.”

This past July we reported that Toni was coping with Daryl’s condition by delighting audiences with a new partner – her Australian shepherd dog Smoky. They cheer up patients at Prescott’s Yavapai Regional Medical Center through a programcalled Pets Are Warm Support.

“It’s a shame Daryl and Toni couldn’t work things out,” said the friend. “They really are a lovely couple.”

 

[Mark-T]

I loved their album "Dream" and of course, many of their hits. I had seen them backstage at Disneyland about 1982. Interestingly, as they walked, they were having an argument about their set- but I always thought them to be very nice.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

This is really sad news...I never was a collector of there music but I did like it. I remember them being played on the radio quite often. I have a WLP 45 of Love Will Keep Us Together 1975 A&M #1672 once side is Mono the other Stereo. I found it funny that on the label under their name, The Captain & Tennille...underneath Tennille it says (Tin-e'el) I guess this was so the DJ's pronounced it correctly. Ha. The Mono side of that song is very nice, loud and clean. It came in a nice picture sleeve.

I also have only 1 album called "Make Your Move" I bought it for the song, "Do That To Me One More Time" I need to pull out that album and give it a spin again. The back of the album says 1979 Casablanca so they must have changed labels? Nice beach scene of them on the back cover.

 

[LPJim]

At least there are no kids to be affected.
JB

 

[AM Matt]

I think they were married on Valentine's Day on February 14, 1975. Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[JeffM]

It's now hit the tabloids. Here is TMZ:

Say it ain't so ... there's no Muskrat Love left for Captain & Tennille ... they're getting divorced ...

It's a sad day for muskrats.

TMZ: The Muskrat Zone? (I've seen the show...more like The Moron Zone.) Anyway, I do agree it's a sad day. I just bought a brand new sealed copy of their Spanish "Por Amor Viveremos" LP...and for the same price it would've sold for back in '75. Plus, of course, the ever-lovin' postage.

 

[Actorman]

I just bought a brand new sealed copy of their Spanish "Por Amor Viveremos" LP.

I've never heard the Spanish LP other than the tracks "Por Amor Viveremos" and "Mis Canciones (The Good Songs)" (which was the b-side to "Can't Stop Dancin'"). I was disappointed a few years back when the CD box set of their "complete" album collection didn't include the "Por Amor Viveremos" album. They probably could have fit the whole thing right on the same disc with the "Love..." album as bonus tracks.

 

[JAZZ4JEFF]

Take this with a grain of salt, as it's in the National Enquirer. July 10, 2014.

Six months after Toni Tennille filed for divorce from her ailing husband, Daryl Dragon, The ENQUIRER has learned the shocking split has taken a tragic turn.

While Toni, 74, has moved into a luxury home, her 71-year-old ex left the marital home the couple vacated as part of their split and is clinging to life in a small Prescott, Ariz., rental property.

“It’s heartbreaking – it’s like Toni kicked him to the curb after 39 years of marriage,” a close friend told The ENQUIRER.“Daryl is wasting away. He’s fighting for his life.

“It’s turned into a tragic ‘deathbed divorce.’ Townspeople here are upset – they wonder how Toni could be so cruel.”

The ugly divorce has stunned “Captain & Tennille” fans who remember them as lovebirds and musical partners, producing such hits as “Love Will Keep Us Together,” “Do That to Me One More Time” and “Muskrat Love” throughout the 1970s and beyond.

But now the music has died for Daryl, who suffers debilitating tremors from a neurological condition similar to Parkinson’s disease.
And in another cruel blow to the performer, legal documents obtained by The ENQUIRER show Daryl signed a “disclaimer deed” on February 12, giving up any rights to the $360,000 home where Toni now resides like a queen.

In late June, a reporter from The ENQUIRER traveled to Toni’s new home and asked for comment, but Toni slammed the door.

“She discarded Daryl,” fumed an insider.
.

 

[Rudy]

I agree--it's the Enquirer. Grain of salt taken.

They were the same ones that in the 80s, said that Tony Bennett was a washed-up has-been. Yet a year later, he was out with yet another fine album and on a successful tour.

Still, I've heard of "medical" divorces where a couple splits up just for the economic advantage, and to protect assets.

 

[JeffM]

I don't read the tabloids...I'm trying to cut back on salt myself.

 

[Charles H.]

Doesn't Toni Tennille have the distinction of having been the only female Beach Boy?

Charles

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

The Enquirer seems to either dead-on right and the only one on the story (John Edwards, for example) or just completely fabricated. Maybe this is a medical situation. Either way it's very tragic and I suppose prayer is the only thing that I can do that'll be of any help.....I loved their stuff so much when it came out. Still remember where I was when I heard "Love Will Keep....." the first time.

 

[1979lee]

I'd heard about this in january... Terrible stuff.
Daryl IS a great guy and muscian.....
totally sucks....
its very had for me to listen to C&T now....

 

[JAZZ4JEFF]

Toni has finally spoken out on her divorce from Daryl "the Captain" .

I am now retired from show business…so why have a new website? That's what I was thinking, too. But my niece, Caroline and my sister, Jane, convinced me I should have an updated one, so here it is.

First of all, let me answer the question that many of you probably have. Yes, it is true. Daryl and I are now divorced. After this entry I will not be blogging about that on this site, so just let me say a few words about it and then I won't be mentioning it again.

Daryl and I moved here to Prescott, Arizona about 8 years ago. Our marriage was never what it might have seemed to the casual observer, but I tried hard for over three decades to make our relationship all that I had dreamed it would be. Neither Daryl nor I ever cheated on each other. You would not have found either of us in rehab or going to wild parties. There was nothing obvious about our marriage that would have made great fodder for the tabloids. It is just that our music was the ONLY thing that bound us together.

Other than that, we simply could not find our way into each other’s heart.

Daryl is now living in a charming cottage home in a gated community here in Prescott, and he seems to be just about as happy as he was all the years he lived with me. I call him every couple of weeks to see how he is doing, and visit him every now and then for a chat. I even suggested to him that he might write a blog, but he seems to have no interest in it. He will tell his story if and when he wants to. That is his decision alone.

And me? Well, I bought my very first house on my own. It is all mine with my name on the Title! It is the smallest house I have lived in since the Butterscotch Castle, back in 1974, but it is quite lovely...2,000 sq ft on two level acres in a rural neighborhood of Prescott with breathtaking views all around. In fact, the photo on the cover page of this site was taken about a five minute walk from my house. Pretty, isn’t it?

This house suits me just fine...plenty of room for my three Australian Shepherds to run and play, with a fenced space to practice agility with them, and the house is small enough for me to keep clean on my own.

Well...FAIRLY clean. I come from the Erma Bombeck school of housekeeping!

Now, at the age of 74, I am starting my life as a single woman. I have done a few concerts here in Prescott as kind of "my gift" to the community, but now I am perfectly happy to lead a "regular" life. If you were to peek inside my closet, you would not find fancy gowns or three-inch heels. The fancy gowns and shoes have all been either donated or sold. The shoes you would see there now are almost all athletic-type shoes...the ones I wear for running agility with my three beautiful Australian Shepherd dogs, the shoes or boots I wear while walking the trails and roads near where I live, or the light weight oxfords I wear to show my two younger Champion Aussies in conformation shows. There are a few pairs of kind of dressy flats, some sandals, and that's about it...no heels over 1". My feet can't handle anything higher anymore.

Here in Prescott, the fanciest clothing most women wear are nice pants or jeans with some sort of cute top or jacket. I do have a dress or two for special occasions. My guest room closet holds the suits I wear when I show my dogs. If you have ever watched the handlers in big dog shows like Westminster or Eukanuba, you'll have an idea of what those are like. I get most of those from ebay or Overstock.

Daryl and I chose to relocate to Prescott mainly because we didn’t want to be shoveling as much snow as we had to in northern Nevada, But Prescott is also where I finally was able to take stock of where I was in my life and make the hard decisions I had to make.

When we moved to Prescott, I didn’t know a SOUL here in town. That’s a kind of scary thing. But before I knew it, I had joined a circle of Australian Shepherd people that changed my entire life. A woman I met at the house we were renting while we built our new home saw the two Aussies that I’d brought with me to Prescott. She said, “I have someone you have to meet,” and took me to meet Kathy Bryan of Redrock Aussies. When my Aussie, Hubble, died not too long after we got here, she gave me Smoky, the dog you see on my home page. She got me involved with the therapy dog program at our local hospital, and since then Smoky and I have been visiting patients, their families and hospital staff there every week.

I now also have Smoky’s two nieces, Bebop and Lula, and I run them in agility trials and show them in conformation shows. I also do agility with Smoky. All three are now Australian Shepherd Club of America (ASCA) Champions. I have happily gone to the dogs!

Why did I stop singing? There are many reasons, but decades ago I told myself I would stop singing when my voice was no longer up to my own standards. I remember cringing when I would hear Frank Sinatra or Rosemary Clooney...two favorites of mine.... singing after their voices had deteriorated. Why did they keep doing it? Was it because they needed the money? Because they couldn’t let go of the spotlight? Because they couldn’t “hear” themselves? I don’t know. I just know I was determined that would never happen to me.

Can I still sing? Of course I can. But remember, I was 35 years old when LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER hit #1 in 1975. I got a late start! At my age I don’t have the kind of stamina I need to sing the way I used to.

Now I am leading a quiet, low-key life just the way I like it. Fame came to us through our music, and while it was exciting, but I mostly felt overwhelmed by it. Now that I am in my ‘70s, I KNOW how precious time is. I am determined to live each day to the fullest extent I can, doing things I love to do with people I love to be around.

And I am SO grateful and happy that my sister, Louisa, moved to Prescott a few years ago and lives close by. It took me a long time, but I finally realized that life is not long enough to let negativity rule it. And I believe it is never too late to find your happiness.

My friends tease me that I don’t have “people” to do things for me anymore. No I don’t, but every time I find myself doing all the things those “people” used to do for me, I am a proud and happy person. Of course, I DO get by “with a little help from my friends”!

Thank you so much for checking out my new website, and until my next post....”keep a song of joy inside your heart”!

 

[dostros]

Took them long enough...