After 52 years, over 150 million albums sold and more than a thousand concerts, The Eagles are officially retiring from touring.
The band announced July 6 its upcoming tour, The Long Goodbye, will be the last. Originally formed in 1971, the band won six Grammys and had five No. 1 singles and six No. 1 albums, making it one of the most successful acts of the 1970s.
Even with all their success, in 1980 they broke up after nearly 10 years together. The Eagles reformed in the 1990s with a mix of original and new members. The break did nothing to slow down the success of the band, which made it onto Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, MAY 7, 1977, THE SONG ‘HOTEL CALIFORNIA’ BY THE EAGLES HITS NO. 1
Here is what the band members are up to today.
Don Henley founded The Eagles in 1971 after he and Glenn Frey met while on tour with Linda Ronstadt as part of her backup band. The two then got together with Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon to complete the band, and the rest is history.
Henley acted as the lead singer and drummer for the band. He also wrote many of their most popular songs, along with Frey, including “Desperado,” “Hotel California,” “King of Hollywood” and “One of These Nights.” He additionally wrote “Witchy Woman” and “Learn to be Still” outside his partnership with Frey.
When the band broke up in 1980, Henley embarked on a solo career, releasing his first solo album, “I Can Stand Still,” in August 1982. The album featured Henley’s best-selling solo hit, “Dirty Laundry,” which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, became gold-certified and earned him a Grammy nomination.
He followed the success of “Dirty Laundry” with his second studio album, “Building the Perfect Beast,” which featured the singles “All She Wants to Do Is Dance,” “Not Enough Love in the World” and “Sunset Grill.” The album also boasted “The Boys of Summer,” which earned Henley a Grammy for best male rock vocal performance.
His third solo album, “The End of the Innocence,” was an even bigger success, leading him to win a second Grammy as a solo artist in the best male rock vocal performance category.
In 1994, the Eagles got back together, Henley included. Their first project back was a live album called “Hell Freezes Over,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, where it stayed for two weeks.
After reuniting, Henley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the rest of the Eagles in 1998. He remains the only original member still in the band.
From 2001 to 2007, Henley was involved in a lawsuit filed against him by former Eagles band member Don Felder, who claimed wrongful termination and sought $50 million in damages. Henley countersued along with Frey, who was also named in the lawsuit. The case was dismissed in 2007 after all parties settled out of court.
After a series of relationships, Henley married model and socialite Sharon Summerall in 1995. Together they have three children, Annabel, Julia and Will Henley.
As a founding member of the Eagles, Glenn Frey also sang lead and background vocals, as well as playing the keyboards and lead guitar. He provided the vocals for many of the band’s most famous songs, such as “Take It Easy,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” “Tequila Sunrise” and “Heartache Tonight.”
Along with Henley, Frey wrote many of the band’s songs, including “Wasted Time,” “The Long Run,” “One of These Nights” and “Lyin’ Eyes,” as well as writing some on his own.
After the band broke up in 1980, he started a solo career with the album “No Fun Aloud,” which had two singles, “The One You Love” and “I Found Somebody.” It went on to become certified gold as did his album “The Allnighter.”
Frey also provided original songs for popular movie soundtracks, including “The Heat Is On” for “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Flip City” for “Ghostbusters II” and “Part of Me, Part of You” for “Thelma & Louise.”
Frey’s first gig as an actor was in a 1985 episode of “Miami Vice.” He continued throughout the ‘80s and ’90s while the Eagles were on hiatus. Following the reunification of the band, he appeared in “Jerry Maguire,” “Nash Bridges” and “Arli$$.”
In 1994, Frey reunited with the Eagles, telling Tavis Smiley on “The Tavis Smiley Show” in 2012, “When the Eagles broke up, people used to ask me and Don, ‘When are the Eagles getting back together?’ We used to answer, ‘When hell freezes over.’ We thought it was a pretty good joke. People have the misconception that we were fighting a lot. It is not true. We had a lot of fun. We had a lot more fun than I think people realize.”
Frey’s final tour with the band was the multi-year “History of the Eagles Tour,” which began in February 2013 and ended in July 2015.
EAGLES MANAGER SAYS ARTHRITIS PILLS PLAYED ROLE IN FREY’S DEATH
Frey was first married to Janie Beggs from 1983 to 1988. He would later marry dancer and choreographer Cindy Millican in 1990 and was with her until his death in 2016. In that time, they had three children: a daughter, Taylor, and two sons, Deacon and Otis.
The musician had been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis since 2000, and the medication he had been taking for over 15 years caused colitis and pneumonia. After being placed in a medically induced coma, Frey died in January 2016. His bandmates paid tribute to him at the Grammy Awards that year, taking the stage to play “Take It Easy.”
Randy Meisner was part of a few bands before becoming an original member of the Eagles, acting mainly as a bassist and background vocalist providing high harmony.
While he was primarily the band’s bassist, he also wrote and sang lead on many of the band’s most popular songs, including “Take It to the Limit” off the band’s fourth album and the band’s most successful single up to that point. He also wrote and sang lead on “Try and Love Again,” “Certain Kind of Fool” and “Take the Devil.”
The success of “Take It to the Limit” and the band’s fifth studio album “Hotel California,” led to Meisner feeling overwhelmed with the fame. That combined with exhaustion, illness and his desire to spend more time with his family led to tension among him and his fellow bandmates.
In the 2004 Eagles biography “To the Limit: The Untold Story of The Eagles,” Meisner told Marc Eliot that at a concert in June 1977, the band was planning on playing “Take It to the Limit” as the encore, which Meisner refused to do. His refusal led to a fight between him and Frey, which even after it was resolved, led to Meisner feeling frozen out by the rest of the group.
“Those last days on the road were the worst. Nobody was talking to me or would hang out after shows or do anything,” Meisner recounted. “I was made an outcast of the band I’d helped start.”
In the documentary, “The History of the Eagles,” Meisner said his refusal to sing the song stemmed from not only his exhaustion that night, but also his worry he wouldn’t be able to hit the high notes, a concern he had voiced to the band before. Meisner officially left the band in September 1977.
Following his time in the band, Meisner released two solo albums, “Randy Meisner,” in 1978, and “One More Song,” in 1980. In 1985, Meisner joined the country rock supergroup Black Tie alongside Jimmy Griffin and Billy Swan. The group released one album together before Griffin left the band and was replaced by Charlie Rich, Jr.
Meisner was not invited to return when the Eagles got back together in 1994. However, he did reunite with the band in 1998 when it was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He joined the supergroup World Class Rockers in 1995. But after a few minor heart attacks in 2004, he cut back on performing, with his last public appearance being in 2008.
Meisner suffered a series of health setbacks following his heart attacks.
In 2013, he was rushed to a hospital after losing consciousness when a piece of food got stuck in his throat, landing him in a coma. In 2015, he was put under a temporary conservatorship when his friend accused his wife of taking advantage of his drug and alcohol dependency, although it didn’t last long.
The musician first married his high school sweetheart, Jennifer Lee Barton, in 1963, and had three children with her — a son, Dana in November 1963 and twins Heather Leigh and Eric Shane in May 1970, before divorcing in 1981. He then married Lana Rae in November 1996 and was married to her until her death in 2016.
Bernie Leadon was the last original member of The Eagles to join the band, playing lead guitar and banjo. Prior to his time with the group, he was part of three other bands, Hearts & Flowers, Dillard & Clark and the Flying Burrito Brothers.
He had a big role in the band’s early success, helping to write one of th early hits, “Witchy Woman,” and was also credited for shaping the band’s early bluegrass sound. Although he was the last member to join the band, he was the first to leave, bowing out in 1975.
His decision to leave came after he poured a beer over Glenn Frey’s head when things got heated during a band meeting in 1975, although that incident wasn’t his main reason. He told Rock History Music in September 2019 he regrets the incident. And when he was in recovery for alcoholism he realized he had to make amends, which he was able to do years later.
It was widely believed Leadon left the band because he was dissatisfied with the decision to transition into the rock ‘n’ roll genre, telling Rolling Stone in 2013, “that’s an oversimplification,” and that his love of rock music is evident in the early albums.
After leaving the band, Leadon kept a low profile for a time, playing on Michael Georgiades album, “Natural Progressions,” in 1977, before releasing his first solo album “Ever Call Ready,” under a pseudonym. He later joined the bluegrass band Run C&W, releasing two albums with them.
In 1998, Leadon reunited with the Eagles when the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, joining them to play “Take It Easy” and “Hotel California.” After a 27-year gap, Leadon released his second solo album, “Mirrors,” in 2004.
After making amends with Frey and the rest of the band, Leadon joined them on the “History of the Eagles Tour” from 2013 to 2015 and later appeared with them on the Grammys stage in 2016 when they performed “Take It Easy” in tribute of Frey, who had died a month earlier.
Joe Walsh was brought in to join the Eagles in 1975 as a replacement for Leadon. The first album he was featured on as the band’s guitarist was “Hotel California.”
Prior to joining the band, Walsh had already released a solo album, “So What,” which featured “Song for Emma,” which he wrote for his daughter who died a 3 years old. He then released the live album, “You Can’t Argue with a Sick Mind,” which was recorded just before he joined the Eagles but wasn’t released until 1976.
Walsh continued to release solo music after the band broke up, although they were not as successful as his earlier works. He released “There Goes the Neighborhood,” “You Bought It – You Name It,” “The Confessor,” “Got Any Gum,” “Ordinary Average Guy” and “Songs for a Dying Planet.”
After some time with a couple different groups, Walsh partnered with Glenn Frey for the band Party of Two.
Walsh reunited with The Eagles in 1994 with the album, “Hell Freezes Over,” and its corresponding tour. He has performed with them ever since.
In 2012, Walsh released his latest solo album to date, “Analog Man,” featuring “One Day at a Time” which details his struggles with alcohol and drug addiction.
Walsh has been married five times, first to Margie Walsh in the 1960s, then to Stefany Rhodes from 1971 to 1978. He was married to Juanita Boyer from 1980 to 1988, Denise Driscoll from 1999 to 2006 and then wed Marjorie Bach in December 2008.
In 1968, Timothy B. Schmit replaced Randy Meisner as the bassist in the band Poco, going on to replace him once again with the Eagles when Meisner left in 1977.
He joined the band following the release of “Hotel California,” with his first Eagles album being “The Long Run,” on which he co-wrote and sang lead vocals for the song “I Can’t Tell You Why.”
The band broke up shortly after Schmit joined the band, so he pursued a solo career. He released three albums, “Playin’ It Cool,” in September 1984, “Timothy B,” in September 1987 and “Tell Me the Truth” in 1990.
In an odd twist, Schmit partnered with his predecessor from both Poco and the Eagles, Randy Meisner, as well as his old bandmate Joe Walsh, to provide background vocals on Richard Marx’s hit song “Don’t Mean Nothing.” He then performed on a few tracks for the band Toto. He went on tour with them in 1982, later touring with Jimmy Buffett from 1983 to 1985 as a member of the Coral Reefer Band.
He returned to the Eagles when they reunited in 1994. He remains a member of the band to this day.
After the band reunited, Schmit went on to release four more solo albums, “Feed the Fire,” “Expando,” “Leap of Faith” and “Day by Day,” which was released in May 2022.
While in the band Poco, Schmit married Noreen Schmit and had a daughter named Jeddrah in 1971 before getting a divorce in the mid-1970s. He then married actress Jean Cromie in 1983, who he is married to today. The couple has two children together, a daughter named Owen Faye and a son named Ben.
After the death of Glenn Frey, Vince Gill joined the Eagles in 2017 along with Deacon Frey. While he is new to the band, Gill is no newcomer to the music industry.
He got his start in 1979 when he joined the band Pure Prairie League, with which he stayed for a few years before leaving in 1981 to join Cherry Bomb, a stage band which played for Rodney Crowell. In the mid-1980s, he signed a solo record deal with RCA Records, releasing two albums, “The Things That Matter” in 1984 and “The Way Back Home” in 1987.
He later found great success with the release of “When I Call Your Name” in 1989. The lead single with the same name went on to win both single and song of the year at the 1990 CMA Awards, as well as a Grammy Award for best country vocal performance.
Gill has released a total of 20 studio albums, including “Pocket Full of Gold,” “When Love Finds You,” “High Lonesome Sound,” “Let’s Make Sure We Kiss Goodbye,” “Next Big Thing” and “Down to My Last Bad Habit.” In total, Gill has sold over 30 million albums and charted 45 singles.
Throughout his decades-long career, Gill has gone on to receive a total of 47 Grammy Award nominations with a total of 22 wins.
He has also won a total of 19 CMA Awards, making him one of the most decorated artists in CMA history. He is the only artist to win male vocalist of the year four years in a row and the only songwriter to win song of the year four times.
Gill has also been inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
From 2010 to 2020, Gill was a member of the country swing band The Time Jumpers, which was originally started in 1988. The musician has also been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since his induction in 1991.
He met his first wife, singer Janice Oliver when they were both up-and-coming musicians in the 1980s. The two got married in 1980 and welcomed their daughter Jennifer in 1982. After 17 years of marriage, the two divorced in 1997.
Gill met his second wife, Amy Grant, in 1993, when he asked her to perform on his first televised Christmas special. She was married to Gary Chapman at the time. A couple of months after Chapman and Grant’s divorce was finalized in 1999, she and Gill went public with their relationship, getting married in March 2000. Together they share a daughter, Corrina, born in 2001.
Deacon Frey is the son of Glenn Frey and joined the Eagles in 2017 after the death of his father in 2016. He played in the band for 4½ years before announcing he was leaving in April 2022.
“Deacon Frey has devoted the past 4½ years to carrying on his father’s legacy and, after some weeks of reflection, he now feels that it is time for him to forge his own path,” the band wrote in a statement posted on its website announcing his departure. “We understand, completely, and we support him in whatever he wishes to pursue in the years ahead.
“In the wake of his dad’s demise, Deacon, at age 24, did an extraordinary thing by stepping from relative anonymity into the very public world of his father’s long illustrious career. We are grateful to Deacon for his admirable efforts, and we wish him well as he charts his future. Deacon’s Eagles Family will always be here to surround him with love, support and goodwill, and he is always welcome to join us onstage at any future concerts, if he so desires.”
He has kept a low profile since leaving the band but is slated to make some appearances with them during their farewell tour, “The Long Goodbye.”
In early 1974, Don Felder was asked to provide additional guitar during the recording of the Eagles’ song “Good Day in Hell” and “Already Gone,” leading him to join the band permanently shortly after. As a member of the band, Felder co-wrote and sang lead on the song “Visions.”
Following the success of 1976’s “Hotel California,” the band members felt increasing pressure to put out another album that would become just as big a success. This led to animosity between band members, most notably between Felder and Glenn Frey.
The friction between them came to a head during a benefit concert in Long Beach, California, for Sen. Alan Cranston. Frey felt Felder was rude to the senator and got angry with him, leading to the two threatening to hurt each other while performing. The show ended with Felder smashing his guitar backstage, and the band broke up shortly after.
When the band initially split in 1980, Felder kept a low profile, going on to release his first solo album, “Airborne,” in 1983. The album’s lead single, “Never Surrender,” was featured on the soundtrack for the film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”
Felder returned to the band in 1994 when it reunited for the new album, “Hell Freezes Over.” He was still with the band when it was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, however he ended up getting fired in 2001.
After that, Felder filed two lawsuits alleging wrongful termination, breach of implied-in-fact contract, and breach of fiduciary duty, reportedly seeking $50 million in damages. He was then countersued by Don Henley and Frey, who alleged breach of contract, as they accused Felder of attempting to sell the rights to a tell-all book. The matter was settled out of court in 2007.
The following year, Felder released his autobiography, “Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974–2001),” in which he gave his side of the story.
Nearly 30 years after the release of his debut solo album, he released his second solo album, “Road to Forever” in 2012. His third album, “American Rock ‘n’ Roll,” was released in April 2019. Starting in 2005, Felder began touring with his own band, the Don Felder Band, and in 2014 went on tour with Styx and Foreigner.