Biography

The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards, and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in North America. Founding members Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner, were recruited by Linda Ronstadt as band members, some touring with her, and all playing on her third solo album, before venturing out on their own on David Geffen’s new Asylum Records label.

Their debut Eagles in 1972 spawned two top twenty singles in the US and Canada: “Take It Easy” and “Witchy Woman”. The next year’s follow up, Desperado, only peaked at number forty-one in the US, although “Desperado” and “Tequila Sunrise” became two of the band’s most popular tracks. In 1974, guitarist Don Felder joined, and On the Border produced the top-forty hit “Already Gone” and the Eagles’ first number-one song in the US and Canada, “Best of My Love”. In 1975, guitarist and vocalist Joe Walsh replaced Leadon, and the album One of These Nights became their first top ten album in many countries. It included the number-one US hit “One of These Nights”, which was their first top ten hit outside of North America, and US top-five songs “Lyin’ Eyes”, and “Take It to the Limit”. Their 1976 compilation Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) is still the best-selling album in the United States, with thirty-eight million sold, and primed the public for the release in late 1976 of Hotel California, which would sell more than twenty-six million copies in the U.S. alone, and more than forty-two million copies worldwide. The album yielded two number-one singles in the US and Canada, “New Kid in Town” and “Hotel California”, the latter of which became their only top ten hit in the United Kingdom, while also reaching the top ten in New Zealand and many European countries, including rising to number two in France.

Meisner left the band in 1977, replaced by Timothy B. Schmit, and the Eagles released their last studio album for nearly twenty-eight years in 1979 with The Long Run, which spawned the North American number-one song “Heartache Tonight”, which also became their biggest hit in Australia, and the North American top ten hits “The Long Run” and “I Can’t Tell You Why”. The Eagles broke up in July 1980 but reunited in 1994 for the album Hell Freezes Over, a mix of live and new studio tracks. They toured consistently and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2007, the Eagles released Long Road Out of Eden, their sixth number-one album in the US, and launched the Long Road Out of Eden Tour in 2008 to support it. In 2013, they began the extended History of the Eagles Tour in conjunction with the band’s documentary release, History of the Eagles. Following Frey’s death in January 2016 and a one-year hiatus, the Eagles re-formed in 2017, with Glenn’s son Deacon Frey and Vince Gill sharing lead vocals for Frey’s songs.

The Eagles are one of the world’s best-selling bands, having sold more than two hundred million records, including one hundred million sold in US alone. They were ranked seventy-fifth on Rolling Stone’s 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.