The singer-songwriter is best remembered for his hit ‘Please Come to Boston’ and also wrote the ‘Augusta’ theme song for golf’s Masters Tournament, which has been used since 1982.
Dave Loggins, the Grammy nominated singer-songwriter best known for his 1974 hit “Please Come to Boston,” has died. Loggins passed away at Alive Hospice in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday, July 10, according to an obituary published in The Tennessean. He was 76. A cause of death was not disclosed.
Born in Shady Valley, Tennessee and raised in Bristol, Loggins, a second cousin of Kenny Loggins, began playing guitar and writing songs in high school. Appearing on the All Things Vocal with Judy Rodman podcast in 2021, he recalled how he “listened to records every free moment for hours at night” and would do his “homework, eat some dinner, then go upstairs to my room, close the door and develop some trancelike state… My subconscious was studying the structures of the songs.”
UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1970: Photo of Dave Loggins Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
– Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images)
After working a draftsman at a metal company and later as an insurance salesman, according to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Loggins relocated to Nashville in 1970 and released his debut album, Personal Belongings, two years later, with his son “Pieces of April” becoming a Top 20 hit for the group Three Dog Night later that year. The album was followed by Apprentice (In a Musical Workshop) in 1974, with the song “Please Come to Boston” hitting the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and earning Loggins a Grammy for Best Male Vocal Performance.
Loggins is also well-remembered for writing and singing “Augusta,” the theme song of golf’s Masters Tournament, as well as “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do,” his No. 1 duet with Anne Murray. In 1986, he made history when he won a CMA Award for the song, making him the only artist to receive the award without being signed to a major label.
Throughout his career, Loggins crafted songs for artists including Joan Baez Don Williams, Johnny Cash, Toby Keith, Wynonna Judd, Alabama, Lee Greenwood, Smokey Robinson, Ray Charles, Reba McEntire, Tanya Tucker, Restless Heart, Kenny Rogers, and Willie Nelson, among others. He wrote six No. 1 records, won 25 ASCAP Awards, and was named ASCAP’s Songwriter of the Year for 1987.
Loggins is survived by his three sons Quinn, Kyle and Dylan, as well as his grandson Braxton. Per his request, there will be no funeral. His family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Alive Hospice in Nashville, Tennessee.
