Fans of classic pop music were devastated last week to learn that iconic singer and songwriter Dave Loggins passed away. 

According to People magazine, the 76-year-old music legend died this past Wednesday at the Alive Hospice in Nashville.

Passion for music began in high school

Originally from Shady Valley, Tennessee, Loggins grew up in Bristol and began to write songs and play the guitar while still in high school.

"I listened to records every free moment for hours at night," People quoted Loggins as saying during a 2021 appearance on the "All Things Vocal with Judy Rodman" podcast.

"I'd do my 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," he added.

The second cousin of fellow recording artist Kenny Loggins, he began rising to prominence in the early 1973 when Three Dog Night recorded a song he penned called "Pieces of April."

That was followed the next year with the release of soft rock hit "Please Come to Boston," which Loggins both wrote and performed.

Loggins was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

In subsequent years, Loggins would write songs that were recorded by country music stars Johnny Cash, Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, and Wynonna Judd.

He also won a Country Music Association vocal duo of the year award in 1985 for "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do," which he performed with Anne Murray.

What's more, People noted that Loggins was perhaps best known for writing and singing the theme song of golf's Masters Tournament, titled "Augusta."

Loggins was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1995, and its biography of him states that he worked as a draftsman at a metal company and then took an insurance sales position before moving to Nashville in 1970.

"Nashville was hard, because if you didn't have country tunes, people didn't want to hear it. I spent a couple of hard years there," Loggins told the Hall of Fame.

Tributes to Loggins appear online

Loggins' passing was met with tributes on social media, including from the X account belonging to late country music sensation Kenny Rogers.

We're saddened to hear about Dave Loggins' passing. Dave was a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member + 4-time Grammy Award nominee who wrote Kenny's #1 hit "Morning Desire." Dave also wrote & performed the timeless #1 classic "Please Come To Boston." -Team KR pic.twitter.com/bwwr5Kuynr

— Kenny Rogers (@_KennyRogers) July 12, 2024

"We're saddened to hear about Dave Loggins' passing. Dave was a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member + 4-time Grammy Award nominee who wrote Kenny's #1 hit "Morning Desire," the post stated.