John Ford Coley to perform in city

Feb. 2—HIGH POINT — It's been more than 40 years since the acrimonious breakup of 1970s soft rockers England Dan and John Ford Coley, but Coley — even at age 73 — is still out on the road, keeping the duo's popular music alive.

And he'd really love to see you Saturday night.

When Coley takes the stage Saturday at the High Point Theatre — along with Jim Stafford ("Spiders & Snakes"), another '70s-era blast from the past — he promises to perform all the hits he and "England Dan" Seals made famous during their heyday, including their 1976 smash hit, "I'd Really Love To See You Tonight."

"I learned a long time ago that when people are accustomed to hearing certain songs, that's what they want to hear," Coley said during a telephone interview from his home near Nashville.

"I'll play maybe one or two (of my solo songs), just to let people know I didn't stop making music — that I didn't become a bowling instructor or a gun instructor. But it's fun to play the old songs, and that's what people are expecting, so we'll go down memory lane."

Coley and Seals, who died in 2009, began performing in local garage bands together in the mid-1960s, when they were high-school classmates in Dallas, Texas. After establishing themselves as an acoustic duo, they signed with A&M Records in 1970 and scored their first success in 1972 with a song called "Simone," which was a No. 1 hit in Japan but didn't chart in the United States.

Four years later, they became a soft-rock phenomenon when "I'd Really Love To See You Tonight" rocketed to No. 2 on the U.S. charts, eventually selling more than 2 million copies. They followed that with a string of hits, including "Nights Are Forever Without You," "It's Sad To Belong," "We'll Never Have To Say Goodbye Again" and "Love Is the Answer."

The duo rode the soft-rock wave of the 1970s — artists such as James Taylor, Paul Simon and The Carpenters were big during that era — but Coley said he and Seals were surprised by their success.

"Neither of us anticipated it would go as far as it did," he said. "Usually, people in music have a one- or two-year adventure and then go on to their life's calling, but for some reason it just kept going."

The run ended in 1980 with a bitter breakup. Seals embarked on a successful solo career in country music, and Coley embarked on a short-lived, far-less-successful venture with a trio called Leslie, Kelly and John Ford Coley. After that, he pursued acting in the 1980s before eventually returning to an active touring schedule in the '90s, while also serving as co-producer for artists such as Eddie Money.

During those years, Seals and Coley rarely spoke to one another, still sore from their contentious split, and they didn't see each other at all after about 1983, Coley said. It wasn't until after Seals' diagnosis of mantle cell lymphoma in 2008 that Coley tried to reach his former friend and musical partner, but with no success.

"I knew he was sick, and I'd been trying to get a hold of him," Coley recalls. "The night before he passed away, he called me, and it was just Dan and John again, with none of the nonsense. As a result, when Dan passed away, I didn't have any unresolved issues with him."

That was in March 2009. Today, some 13 years later, Coley continues to play the old songs and keep the old memories alive.

"I still love being out on the road and performing," he says. "That's just who I am."

jtomlin@hpenews.com — 336-888-3579