Dave Loggins was a singer and songwriter best known for his 1974 soft rock hit “Please Come to Boston” and the theme song to the Masters Golf Tournament.
Dave Loggins’s Ebroa
Loggins began releasing music in the early 1970s, and he hit it big in 1974 with “Please Come to Boston.” The poignant track – about lovers who can’t seem to settle in the same city – was a No. 1 soft rock hit and reached the top five on mainstream radio. It was by far Loggins’ biggest hit that he performed himself, leading to his labeling as a one-hit wonder. But it certainly wasn’t the only well-known song he wrote.
In 1981, Loggins was golfing at Georgia’s famed Augusta National Golf Club, home to the Masters Golf Tournament, when he was inspired to craft a song. He began writing and quickly realized the tune had potential. He leveraged connections to get in touch with the powers that be at CBS Sports, suggesting to them that the Masters needed a theme song, and he was the one to write it.
Loggins recorded a demo, and it was a hit with CBS Sports. The song, “Augusta,” was first used as the theme to the Masters in 1982 and has continued to be used each year since. It’s best known as a piano-driven instrumental, but it does in fact have lyrics singing the praises of the course, though they’re not used in the theme-song version.
Loggins also wrote several songs that were made famous by other musicians. Three Dog Night had a hit with his song “Pieces of April” in 1973. Country music fans may know his songs “Morning Desire” and “You Make Me Want to Make You Mine,” which were No. 1 hits for Kenny Rogers (1938–2020) and Juice Newton, respectively. Loggins also recorded the 1984 country music hit “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do” with Anne Murray, nabbing them Vocal Duo of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards a year later.
Loggins was the second cousin of pop star Kenny Loggins.
On writing “Augusta”
“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.” — from a 2019 interview for the Associated Press
Tributes to Dave Loggins
Full obituary: Variety
