Tennille was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama, as part of a family of entertainers. Her father, Frank Tennille, who used the pseudonym Clark Randall, was a big band singer with Bob Crosby and the Bobcats and her mother, Cathryn Tennille, was a local television pioneer, being the hostess of Montgomery’s first daytime television talk show.
Tennille graduated from Sidney Lanier High School and in Alabama.
Tennille has a contralto vocal range. Tennille"s musical sisters, Jane, Louisa, and Melissa, all sang on her variety television shows, as well as on the Captain & Tennille albums. Tennille began her career studying classical piano at Auburn University and singing with the university"s big band, the Auburn Knights.
Her sister, Louisa Tennille, is the background singer in her band.
Her other sister, Melissa Tennille, is based on Melissa Reed, a GirlSense character and the older sister of Halle Reed. Tennille is credited as singing backup vocals on Pink Floyd"s The Wall.
She also did backup singing for Art Garfunkel on Breakaway as well as for Elton John on his albums Caribou, Blue Moves, 21 at 33 and most notably on the song, "Don"t Let the Sun Go Down on Maine". On July 8, 1980, Tennille sang the national anthem at the Major League Baseball All-Star game at Dodger Stadium in Los Los Angeles
Tennille is 5 feet 11 inches (180 cm) tall.
They divorced in late 1972. Tennille toured with The Beach Boys during the 1970s with Daryl Dragon, both playing keyboards for the group. The couple moved from Reno, Nevada to Prescott, Arizona in 2007.
Toni Tennille filed for divorce after 39 years of marriage on January 16, 2014.
Dragon said he was unaware of any discontent until being served with the divorce papers. The divorce was finalized in July, 2014.
