Dave Loggins, the singer-songwriter behind the 1974 smash “Please Come to Boston” and the theme for the Masters golf tournament, has died. He was 76.
According to an obituary notice placed in the Tennessean newspaper, Loggins died Wednesday at Alive Hospice in Nashville. No cause of death was given.
Loggins, a Tennessee native, was a second cousin of rocker Kenny Loggins. But his songwriting career took him in a more traditional country direction, writing songs for Johnny Cash, Wynonna Judd, Alabama, Reba McEntire, Tanya Tucker, Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson. He also wrote for soul artists like Smokey Robinson and Ray Charles.
Two of his songs, Rogers’ “Morning Desire” and Juice Newton’s “You Make Me Want to Make You Mine,” topped Bilboard’s country charts.
“Please Come to Boston,” Loggins’ best-known single under this own name, was a tearjerker about a long-distance couple unable to conquer the distance between them. The song hit No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped what’s now the adult contemporary chart.
In the ‘80s, Loggins dueted with Anne Murray on “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do,” a song popularized on the CBS soap opera “As the World Turns.” The single topped Billboard’s country chart, and the two shared a CMA Award for vocal duo of the year in 1985. (Whitney Houston later recorded a version of “Nobody” as well.) Loggins went on to earn four Grammy nominations in his career.
Yet his best-known song among sports fans is likely “Augusta,” the theme song for the Augusta Masters Golf Tournament, which has soundtracked the event since 1982.
Loggins wrote the song after golfing at the site in 1981, and told the AP in 2019 that ”I stopped for a minute, looked up at the pine trees and the wind down there was just different in some regards. Spiritually it was different. That course was just a piece of art. I looked over at some dogwoods and, man, I just started writing the song in my head, which is what I do when I get inspired. I had the first verse before I even got off the course.”
According to his obituary notice, Loggins is survived by his three sons, Quinn, Kyle and Dylan Loggins, and a grandson, Braxton Loggins.