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Songwriting Legend Troy Seals Passes
Hat tip, the Washington Post
Troy Seals, country songwriter with hits beyond Nashville, dies at 86
Songwriting Legend Troy Seals Passes
April 1, 2025 by Robert K Oermann
Troy Seals. Photo: Courtesy of ASCAP
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Troy Seals has died at age 86. ... During his illustrious career, Seals co-wrote more than 75 charted singles, including 30 top 10 hits and 11 No. 1 records. Among his classics are “Seven Spanish Angels,” “Lost in the Fifties Tonight,” “There’s a Honky-Tonk Angel (Who’ll Take Me Back In)” and “If You Ever Have Forever in Mind.” Troy Seals was also a recording artist and a session guitarist.
The musician was born in Big Hill, Kentucky, and his family moved to Cincinnati when he was 11. Troy Seals began his career at age 17 in 1956. He and his band The Earthquakes performed on the rock & roll nightclub circuit during the 1950s, working with such legends as Fats Domino, Jackie Wilson, Bo Diddley, The Drifters, Lloyd Price, Dorsey Burnette and Chubby Checker. ... At one rock & roll show, Seals met rockabilly recording artist Jo-Ann Campbell, who was featured in such teen films as Go, Johnny Go (1958) and Hey Let’s Twist (1961). Not long after Seals and Campbell married, she scored a 1963 country hit with “I’m the Girl From Wolverton Mountain.” Billed as “Jo-Ann & Troy,” the couple had pop success with “I Found a Love, Oh What a Love” in 1964.
After regular appearances on Dick Clark’s TV shows American Bandstand and Where the Action Is, Campbell retired in 1965. Seals gave up music and founded a construction company in 1968. The couple moved to Nashville in early 1969. Troy Seals continued to work in construction, building Music Row’s Quadraphonic Studio. He also took work as a session musician, hoping to break into the country industry.
He began to make inroads as a songwriter in the 1970s. In 1972, Sammi Smith had a top 40 hit with his “Girl in New Orleans.” Waylon Jennings introduced Seals’ co-written ballad “We Had It All” in 1973. Although never a big hit, the song became something of a country standard with subsequent versions by Dolly Parton, Dottie West, Tom Jones, B.J. Thomas, Tina Turner, Donna Fargo and co-writer Donnie Fritts, among others. ... Troy Seals recorded his debut album at Quadraphonic in 1973. Titled Now Presenting Troy Seals, the Atlantic Records collection included his version of “We Had It All,” as well as “There’s a Honky Tonk Angel (Who’ll Take Me Back In).”
{snip}
April 1, 2025 by Robert K Oermann
Troy Seals. Photo: Courtesy of ASCAP
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Troy Seals has died at age 86. ... During his illustrious career, Seals co-wrote more than 75 charted singles, including 30 top 10 hits and 11 No. 1 records. Among his classics are “Seven Spanish Angels,” “Lost in the Fifties Tonight,” “There’s a Honky-Tonk Angel (Who’ll Take Me Back In)” and “If You Ever Have Forever in Mind.” Troy Seals was also a recording artist and a session guitarist.
The musician was born in Big Hill, Kentucky, and his family moved to Cincinnati when he was 11. Troy Seals began his career at age 17 in 1956. He and his band The Earthquakes performed on the rock & roll nightclub circuit during the 1950s, working with such legends as Fats Domino, Jackie Wilson, Bo Diddley, The Drifters, Lloyd Price, Dorsey Burnette and Chubby Checker. ... At one rock & roll show, Seals met rockabilly recording artist Jo-Ann Campbell, who was featured in such teen films as Go, Johnny Go (1958) and Hey Let’s Twist (1961). Not long after Seals and Campbell married, she scored a 1963 country hit with “I’m the Girl From Wolverton Mountain.” Billed as “Jo-Ann & Troy,” the couple had pop success with “I Found a Love, Oh What a Love” in 1964.
After regular appearances on Dick Clark’s TV shows American Bandstand and Where the Action Is, Campbell retired in 1965. Seals gave up music and founded a construction company in 1968. The couple moved to Nashville in early 1969. Troy Seals continued to work in construction, building Music Row’s Quadraphonic Studio. He also took work as a session musician, hoping to break into the country industry.
He began to make inroads as a songwriter in the 1970s. In 1972, Sammi Smith had a top 40 hit with his “Girl in New Orleans.” Waylon Jennings introduced Seals’ co-written ballad “We Had It All” in 1973. Although never a big hit, the song became something of a country standard with subsequent versions by Dolly Parton, Dottie West, Tom Jones, B.J. Thomas, Tina Turner, Donna Fargo and co-writer Donnie Fritts, among others. ... Troy Seals recorded his debut album at Quadraphonic in 1973. Titled Now Presenting Troy Seals, the Atlantic Records collection included his version of “We Had It All,” as well as “There’s a Honky Tonk Angel (Who’ll Take Me Back In).”
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