Earlier than hovering as one of many founding members of the Eagles, Donald Hugh Henley grew up in Linden, Texas. Born on July 22, 1947, in Gilmer, Henley comes from an ancestry of English, Irish, and Scottish descent. Previous to going into music, Don Henley performed highschool soccer earlier than his coach recommended he stop because of his comparatively small physique body. This prompted Henley to affix the varsity band, first as a trombone participant earlier than changing into a percussionist. Whereas in highschool, he was requested to affix Dixieland, a band based by his pal’s father, Elmer Bowden. Henley, Richard Bowden, and Jerry Surratt would later kind the 4 Speeds earlier than renaming itself to Felicity. Don Henley wrote “Hurtin’.” a single that was regionally recorded and launched.
Kenny Rogers
After he graduated in 1965, he attended Stephen F. Austin State College in Nacogdoches, Texas earlier than enrolling at North Texas State College in Denton, Texas. In 1969, Don Henley left college to spend extra time together with his father upon the invention he was dying of coronary heart illness. It was additionally in 1969 that he and his bandmates met Kenny Rogers because the nation star took an curiosity within the group. At this level, Felicity’s identify modified to Shiloh and so they recorded just a few songs for Rogers. “Jennifer (O’ My Girl)” was their first single, which was launched shortly after Surratt was killed in a mud bike accident.
Don Henley, Richard Bowden, and his cousin, Michael Bowden, teamed up with Al Perkins and Jim Ed Norman to kind Henley earlier than Rogers signed them up as a band to Amos Information. Collectively, they had been dropped at Los Angeles, California in 1970. Produced by Larrabee Studios, the band launched its first studio album, titled Henley. Nonetheless, shortly after the discharge of this album, the group disbanded as artistic variations between Don Henley and Richard Bowden reached the breaking level.
Hovering Like Eagles
Whereas in Los Angeles, Don Henley met Glenn Frey as each males had been signed to the identical label, Amos Information. They, together with J.D. Souther and John Boylan, had been recruited to function Linda Ronstadt’s backup band when she went on tour in 1971. Whereas on tour, Frey and Henley met Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon as in addition they performed as a backing band for Ronstadt. Collectively, they formally shaped the Eagles.
In 1971, the Eagles had been signed to Asylum Information earlier than releasing their debut album in 1972. “Take It Straightforward” was the primary hit single that was first written by Jackson Browne earlier than Glenn Frey helped him full it. The subsequent single was “Witchy Lady,” which was co-written with Leadon. The place Frey sang the lead for “Take It Straightforward,” Don Henley sang the lead for “Witchy Lady.”
The profession span of the Eagles from 1971 to 1980 had Frey and Don Henley take turns because the lead vocalist of what grew to become one of the vital profitable rock bands in historical past. After “Take It Straightforward” and “Witchy Lady” was “Desperado.” It was that single that marked the beginning of a songwriting partnership Henley shared with Frey.
All through the Seventies, the Eagles persistently produced one hit single after one other. Collectively, Frey and Don Henley had been typically thought to be the McCartney and Lennon equal of a dynamic songwriting duo. The Eagles managed to develop into the highest-selling American band in American historical past.
Flying Solo
After the Eagles broke up in 1980, it was said on the time that hell must freeze over first earlier than the lineup would think about working collectively as a band once more. Till 1994, Don Henley launched into a really profitable profession as a solo artist. Hits corresponding to “Soiled Laundry” and “Boys of Summer season” demonstrated Don Henley was fairly able to sustaining his momentum as a hitmaker. On the time, Don Henley and Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks had been an merchandise that recorded and launched the duet, “Leather-based and Lace.” This music was truly written by Nicks for Waylon Jennings and his spouse, Jessi Colter, in 1981.
Henley’s first solo album was I Can’t Stand Nonetheless, which produced the hit single, “Soiled Laundry.” It grew to become his all-time largest solo hit and was licensed gold by the Recording Business Affiliation of America. In 1984, Constructing the Good Beast featured “The Boys of Summer season.” This earned him a sequence of MTV Video Music Award wins, in addition to a Grammy Award for Finest Male Rock Vocal Efficiency.
In 1989, Henley’s The Finish of the Innocence grew to become his most profitable album but with its title monitor incomes him one other Grammy Award for Finest Male Rock Vocal Efficiency. Don Henley is thought to be one of many biggest singing drummers of all time.
As profitable as Don Henley was as a recording musician, his prolonged authorized battle towards Geffen Information marred what ought to have been a trouble-free profession. This battle resulted in Henley selecting up the mantle to talk on behalf of musicians when it got here to defending their rights. Whereas Henley was coping with Geffen, Glenn Frey had related points towards MCA Information. These battles wound up having the Eagles file a lawsuit towards Elektra Information earlier than the band may begin their live performance tour because the label supposed to launch the band’s Biggest Hits album. It was a lawsuit that dominated in favor of the band.
As of 2002, Don Henley grew to become the pinnacle of the Recording Artists Coalition. This is a company that works on behalf of the musicians towards main file labels in a mixed effort to carry them accountable in relation to copyright points and different industry-related practices.
Hell Froze Over
In 1994, the Eagles had been reunited after spending fourteen years aside. After releasing Hell Freezes Over, the group went on tour from 1994 till 1996. In 2007, the band launched Lengthy Highway Out of Eden. This was adopted by a Historical past of the Eagles Tour in 2013. It resulted in 2015, six months earlier than Glenn Frey handed away on January 18, 1916. Frey had been coping with rheumatoid arthritis and was given remedy that induced extra medical issues than it was supposed to resolve.
As a band, the Eagles gained six Grammy Awards and had 5 singles that grew to become chart-toppers. In 1998, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame. Since Frey’s passing in 2016, nation legend Vince Gill has joined the Eagles because the surviving members proceed to hold on with a legacy that helped form basic rock as we all know it.
High 10 Eales Songs Sung bDon Henley
#10 – Busy Being Fabulous
From 2007’s Lengthy Highway out of Eden, “Busy Being Fabulous” was a music sung by Don Henley that targeted on a strained relationship between a pair that spent extra time worrying about their social standing than one another. On the US Billboard Grownup Modern chart, it grew to become a quantity twelve hit. On the US Billboard Scorching Nation Songs chart, it grew to become the sixth and remaining event the Eagles would expertise a crossover hit into the style of nation music after peaking at quantity twenty-eight.
The principle enchantment of “Busy Being Fabulous” as a fan was the unlucky actuality that many individuals, particularly {couples}, are inclined to lose focus an excessive amount of on climbing the social ladder as an alternative of staying humble and true to themselves. Within the quest to fulfill private vanities and delight, love, persistence, and understanding take a backseat. The longer this way of life selection continues, the extra of ourselves we lose. Alongside the way in which, the specter of shedding these closest to us turns into all too actual. For a music that serves up a great actuality verify, “Busy Being Fabulous” is it.
#9 – Please Come House for Christmas
Usually, the Eagles most well-liked to file their very own musical materials. Nonetheless, an exception was made for “Please Come House for Christmas.” The 1960 unique from blues legend Charles Brown grew to become a staple music through the vacation season that always appeared within the music charts.
When Don Henley carried out this music because the lead vocalist for the Eagles in 1978, there was a breath of life that went into this music that added a brand new wave of followers when it got here to Christmas music. Their model grew to become a quantity eighteen hit on the US Billboard Scorching 100. This was a landmark achievement because it was the primary Christmas music to achieve a peak throughout the high twenty of the US Billboard Scorching 100 since Roy Orbison’s 1963 hit “Fairly Paper.” Curiously sufficient, “Please Come House for Christmas” by the Eagles appeared on the US Billboard Scorching 100 once more in 2021, peaking at quantity forty-five.
This was the primary single launched by the Eagles that featured Timothy B. Schmit as Randy Meisner’s substitute. Curiously sufficient, when this single was launched once more in 1995, it grew to become a quantity fifteen hit on the US Billboard Grownup Modern chart. It was additionally this model that altered Brown’s unique model with “bells will probably be ringing the unhappy, unhappy information” as an alternative of sticking with “glad, glad information.”
#8 – Get Over It
After fourteen years aside as a band, the Eagles reunited and introduced forth the only “Get Over It” in 1994. With Don Henley because the lead vocalist, this grew to become a quantity thirty-one hit on the US Billboard Scorching 100, in addition to a quantity twenty-one hit on the US Billboard Grownup Modern chart. In Canada, it was a quantity 4 hit on the High Singles Chart and a quantity 13 hit on its Grownup Modern chart. It additionally made a global impression by charting at quantity seventy-four hit in Australia, quantity fifty-five hit in Germany, and quantity twenty-four hit in Poland.
This was a music that took goal at tv speak present hosts who felt justified in charge the world for their very own private issues. Among the many fan base, each new and previous, this was a fantastic tune that wasn’t merely a faster-paced type of musical leisure. It was additionally a loud and clear message to take private accountability for one’s personal actions.
#7 – The Lengthy Run
Written by Glenn Frey and Don Henley, “The Lengthy Run” was thought to be a tribute to the Stax/Memphis rhythm and blues sound. From the album with the identical identify, it was a single that peaked at quantity eight on the US Billboard Scorching 100 going into 1980. Not lengthy after this, the Eagles parted methods and launched into solo careers. On the US Billboard Grownup Modern chart, it grew to become a quantity thirty-four hit. In Canada, it peaked at quantity 9.
The music itself was a lyrical response by the Eagles because the press made solutions concerning the course of music because the world knew it at the moment. With disco and punk making such an influence, questions happened how nicely the Eagles may compete towards the everchanging dynamics of rock music. Oddly sufficient, though the music was concerning the group’s longevity, the strain to measure as much as the success of Resort California prompted every band member to go their separate methods as performers.
“The Lengthy Run” was a genius wordplay by the songwriting group of Frey and Henley, which was fantastically carried out by Henley because the lead vocalist. The remainder of the Eagles, as regular, delivered an instrumental orchestration that simply turned “The Lengthy Run” right into a basic favourite. Although the Eagles broke up as a band, all 4 members continued to take pleasure in stable recording careers on their very own. After they reunited in 1994, all this did was set up the truth they did greater than merely survive the turbulence of the music {industry}. They knew tips on how to trip these waves in model and nonetheless come out on high.
#6 – Life In The Quick Lane
From the album, Resort California, 1976’s “Life within the Quick Lane” was a single that featured Don Henley because the lead vocalist for the Eagles. On the US Billboard Scorching 100, it peaked at quantity eleven whereas on the Canadian High Singles chart at quantity twelve. In excellent cliche format, the music referenced a pair who lived their life on the sting. For Glenn Frey, the inspiration behind this music got here after driving in a car on the freeway with a drug vendor. When Frey requested him to decelerate, the response was “What do you imply? It’s life within the quick lane!”
The standout guitar riff was Joe Walsh demonstrating why he earned his rightful place because the Eagles’ latest member of its lineup. When he burst out with a riff neither Frey nor Henley heard of earlier than, a choice was made that it deserved to be put to a music. Because it turned out, “Life within the Quick Lane” grew to become the fortunate recipient. And we, the fortunate followers, bought to listen to it.
#5 – Better of My Love
The songwriting group of Glenn Frey, Don Henley and J.D. Souther introduced forth “Better of My Love” as a single from the 1974 album, On the Border. With Henley because the lead vocalist, this easy-listening favourite topped the US Billboard Scorching 100, US Grownup Modern Chart, the Canadian High Singles Chart, and the Canadian Grownup Modern chart in 1975. By yr’s finish, it was the twelfth hottest music on the US Billboard’s annual checklist.
Whereas in London, the Eagles recorded this music after Glenn Frey listened to tunes from a Fred Neil file. This got here at a time when the group was engaged on their third studio album. For Frey, he was studying tips on how to work out a tune Joni Mitchell had proven him just a few days prior. Unintentionally, Frey discovered his guitar play leading to what grew to become a part of the composition behind “The Better of My Life.” As for the lyrics, these had been partly impressed after Henley broke up with a girlfriend.
At first, there was reluctance to launch “Better of My Love” as a single earlier than Asylum Information truncated the music and launched what it felt was a radio-friendly model. This was completed with out the band’s data and approval, which induced sufficient friction for it to be pulled from the shops as a single. Nonetheless, this country-flavored ballad grew to become the Eagles’ most profitable as far as it not solely grew to become the primary to develop into a number-one hit however to promote over one million copies.
#4 – One in every of These Nights
Straight on the heels of “Better of My Love” and its 1975 success as a chart-topping single, “One in every of These Nights” additionally grew to become a number-one hit on the US Billboard Scorching 100. Sung by Don Henley because the lead vocalist, this was the second number-one hit in a row for the Eagles. On the US Billboard Grownup Modern chart, it peaked at quantity twenty. The one model was significantly shortened than the album model because the intro was taken out, in addition to most of its fade out. Singing the excessive concord was Randy Meisner. The guitar solo featured the expertise of Don Felder that permit out a distorted blues-based riff that made “One in every of These Nights” a stable fan favourite.
Globally, “One in every of These Nights” was a high thirty hit among the many nations of Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the U.Okay. The British Phonographic Business additionally awarded this single with a silver certification after it reached the 200,000 copies bought mark. It was a music that had the Eagles intentionally steer away from nation rock-style ballads as a method to broaden their musical resume. Clearly, it was a technique that labored.
#3 – Witchy Lady
Launched in 1972, “Witchy Lady” grew to become the second single launched by the Eagles. It was the primary that includes Don Henley because the lead vocalist. He, together with Bernie Leadon, wrote the music and it grew to become a quantity 9 hit on the US Billboard Scorching 100. It was additionally a quantity eight hit on the Canadian High Singles chart and a quantity twenty-six hit within the Netherlands.
The music itself bought its begin from Leadon whereas he was a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers. After becoming a member of the Eagles, he collaborated with Henley to complete the music. The conception behind the music got here whereas taking part in an uncommon riff that gave the impression of a mixture of Hollywood films and Indian music. This was the heart beat that made “Witchy Lady” a standout favourite.
On the time, Henley was coping with the flu the place he needed to take care of fevers. Every time the fever subsided, he learn a e-book about Zelda Fitzgerald. Henley additionally credited books written by Carlos Castaneda on shamanism, in addition to an occult-favoring girlfriend, as sources of inspiration that spawned “Witchy Lady” to develop a music that has since develop into a cult basic.
#2 – Desperado
In 1973, “Desperado,” was an influence ballad from the Eagles that featured Don Henley because the lead vocalist. Though it was not launched as a single, it grew to become one of many band’s best-known songs. It’s additionally on the checklist of The five hundred Biggest Songs of All Time. Till Linda Ronstadt recorded this music herself, “Desperado” obtained little or no consideration. Afterward, it grew to become one of many Eagles’ signature hits. It’s additionally develop into a staple favourite that’s been lined by a protracted checklist of recording artists. In 1976, Johnny Rodriguez turned “Desperado” right into a number-five hit on the US Billboard Scorching Nation Songs chart.
As a music, it bought its begin in 1968 when Henley adopted the model of previous Stephen Forster songs. Initially, it was a few pal named Leo earlier than it developed right into a collaborative effort he shared with Glenn Frey. “Desperado” grew to become an authorized silver vendor with the British Phonographic Business.
#1 – Resort California
As a music, “Resort California” has develop into a lot greater than a legend. Launched in 1977, the unmistakable dual-guitar descending arpeggio half that ended the music positioned Joe Walsh as a guitar hero. Don Henley’s lyrical efficiency, together with the lengthy guitar coda, turned “Resort California” right into a number-one hit on the US Billboard Scorching 100 and the Canadian High Singles chart as if it was a straightforward process.
In 1978, “Resort California” earned the Grammy Award for Report of the Yr. As a music that handled the journey from innocence to expertise, so many followers spun their very own tackle what the music meant to them. Internationally, this single was no less than a top-ten hit in Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.Okay. It additionally obtained a large number of platinum certifications, specifically from Denmark, Italy, Japan, the U.Okay.’s BMI, and the U.S.’s RIAA.
Intentional or not, “Resort California” grew to become a cult basic that stemmed past the realm of the music {industry}. It has typically been used to mirror on numerous political and social points. It’s additionally been analyzed from a spiritual viewpoint as there have been many parts within the music that revolved across the notorious seven lethal sins from biblical texts.
“Resort California” was additionally one of many few songs the Eagles allowed for use in numerous movie and tv productions. The recognition of this music is so immense that it continues to encourage newcomers to the music {industry} in changing into guitar heroes themselves. It’s additionally one of many songs inducted into The Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame’s 500 Songs that Formed Rock and Roll.
Characteristic Picture: Derek Russell, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, by way of Wikimedia Commons
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