1971-Don HenleyDrums, vocals1971-
Glenn FreyGuitar, vocals1971-2016
Randy MeisnerBass, vocals1971-1977
Bernie LeadonGuitar, banjo1971-1976
Don FelderGuitar, vocals1974-2001
Joe WalshGuitar, vocals1976-
Timothy B. SchmitBass, vocals1977-
Vince GillGuitar, vocals2017-
Deacon FreyGuitar, vocals2017-2022
They formed in Los Angeles after converging there from four different places and going to work for another transplant: Linda Ronstadt. Don Henley (from Texas) and Glenn Frey (from Michigan) joined Ronstadt's touring band in 1971 and played on her third solo album in 1972 along with Randy Meisner (from Nebraska) and Bernie Leadon (from San Diego). With Ronstadt's blessing, they formed the Eagles in 1972 and quickly became more popular than she was. Ronstadt's career really took off in 1975; for the rest of the decade, she and the Eagles were two of the biggest American acts.
In America, Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 is the best-selling album of all time, according to the RIAA, which certified it at 38 million units in 2018, five million ahead of Michael Jackson's Thriller.
They were the first band to charge over $100 for arena shows. They did it on their 1994 Hell Freezes Over tour, and when fans paid the price, other acts like The Rolling Stones followed suit.
Henley, Frey and Felder were the three official owners of the band, which existed as a corporate entity called Eagles, Ltd. Felder claims that after the band reunited in 1994, he was cut out of most of the decisions, and was fired in 2001 for asking too many questions. He sued Henley and Frey, which resulted in an out-of-court settlement they are not allowed to discuss.
They sued the American Eagle Foundation, a charity dedicated to saving the birds, for using the domain name eagles.org and the phone number 1-800-2EAGLES. The case was dismissed when the band couldn't make court appearances.
Frey and Henley were often at odds, but had tremendous respect for each other as musicians and songwriters. "Without Don, we'd just be love songs and harmonies," Frey told Rolling Stone. We'd be Air Supply.
Frey was in a short-lived TV show called
South of Sunset. It was canceled after one episode.
Henley was in a band called Shiloh, which recorded an album produced by Kenny Rogers. Recording for the same record label was Longbranch Pennywhistle, a band featuring Frey and J.D. Souther, who would later co-write many Eagles songs.
Leadon was in many groups before the Eagles, including Hearts and Flowers, the Dillard-Clark Expedition, and the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Although The Eagles are usually identified with the West Coast music scene, only Schmit was born in California.
Walsh can be seen as a prisoner in the final scene of the movie The Blues Brothers.
When Henley married Sharon Summerall in 1995, performers at the wedding included Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Sting, Jackson Browne, John Fogerty, and Sheryl Crow.
Bernie Leadon went on to form RUN C&W, a band that played Motown in a bluegrass Style. They released two albums.
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Suggestion credit:
James - Leesville, LA
Joe Walsh was asked to join in 1976 when Bernie Leadon left. He had previously played in the hard rock band The James Gang who had released four albums, two of which who went gold. He added a harder edge to the Eagles' sound and helped write the hits "Hotel California" and "The Long Run."
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Suggestion credit:
Tim - Manassas, VA
Meisner was in the group Poco before joining the Eagles. Poco replaced Randy with Timothy B. Schmit, who replaced Randy when he left the Eagles.
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Suggestion credit:
Chuck - Tulsa, OK
Travis Tritt helped coax the band back together. When Don Henley organized an Eagles tribute album called
Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles in 1993, Tritt said he would sing a song on the album only
if the Eagles appeared with him in the video. To his surprise, the band complied and appeared in the video for his cover of "
Take It Easy." The five band members actually enjoyed each others' company and decided maybe they could work together after all. This led to their reunion the next year.
They have never done an endorsement deal or let their music be used for commercial use.
Dan Fogelberg is good friends with the band and opened for them for about two years.
They made just two official concept videos, both for songs on their last album Long Road Out Of Eden, released in 2007. During their original run they were stretched so thin that making videos would have been untenable, and besides, there weren't many places that would have shown them - MTV didn't go on the air until after the group split. Don Henley and Glenn Frey, though, were both big on MTV in the '80s.
