His birthname is James Eugene Seals. No details have yet been released about cause of death.
About five years ago Jim Seals suffered a stroke,
and has been unable since to make music or sing.
One report says he took up painting, however.
At latest report before the announcement of his passing,
he doted on his grandchildren
and said how proud he was of the way his adult children were raising their families.
He had one marriage only, to the former Ruby Jean Anderson,
and they had three children together.

Seals joined the Baha'i faith as a young adult and stuck with it.
Being a man of deep religious faith, he anticipated an afterlife,
and it is pleasing to think that he has now moved on to
what the Baha'is call the "Abha Kingdom",
from an Arabic world that means "glory."