Don Felder -- How He Wouldn't Quit the Eagles (Mini Doc)

foreign [Music] the Eagles are one of the biggest selling rock bands in history having sold more than 100 million records in the United States alone and over 200 million worldwide they started out as a four-piece country country rock style vocal group of long-haired kids from California and change your style over to a more edgier rock sound a few years later a big part of that changeover which occurred starting in 1974 with the hiring of a guitarist from Florida who had recently relocated to California his name was Don Felder it was a long and wild ride to say the least here is Don's story Donald William Felder was born September 21st 1947 in Gainesville Florida he lived with his father and mother and his older brother Jerry in a small home that his father built himself Don admits they were very poor at five years old Don complained of headaches and feeling tired all the time after a doctor's visit he was diagnosed with early symptoms of polio they quickly gave him the newly developed Salk vaccine and he spent four months in a polio award which must have been a terrifying experience for him but thanks to a little luck and getting the vaccine Don's symptoms never fully developed Don started playing guitar when he was 10 after trading a neighborhood kid some cherry bombs for a beat up old acoustic the guitar wasn't very good at all but he went to the drug store in town and bought some new strings to put on it and played it till his fingers would bleed when he was 16 Don said I was on fire for music for rock and roll I was in a band with Steven Stills I didn't have a driver's license so my mother would drive us around to little shows little fraternity parties things like that I love the enthusiasm and energy of playing live for people around this time he met Dwayne and Greg Allman who had a band and was playing a lot around the Daytona Beach Florida area it was Dwayne who sat with Don at his house and helped him learn to play slide guitar his best lesson of all came in some advice he told Don close your eyes and listen to The Music Man feel it in your heart and when your spine tingles you'll know it's right Don became a really good slide guitarist I wouldn't put him up there with Dwayne but then again I'd have to think about it pretty hard to put anyone up there with Duane Allman in 1963 Don met Bernie Ludden Bernie's family had moved from the west coast to Florida Don and Bernie became close friends their music taste varied as Bernie was into Bluegrass and Country and Don rock and blues but they seemed to have a tight Bond and it would be Bernie who after he left Florida and went back to California would keep on Don to move west where he said the music was happening and when Don finally did decide to go it was Bernie who opened his home up to Don his wife and dog and helped him get settled and find some work on the west coast Don took a job at a local music store in Gainesville this was the music store he would also teach guitar lessons at one of his students being Tom Petty but around home things weren't going so good Don was letting his hair grow smoking pot and playing guitar his older brother Jerry had finished law school got a job at a small firm in Gainesville and was moving out his father not too happy with the road Don was heading down and with Jerry not around it didn't end well it ended up with Don and his father in a fight and Don left home he was never to return with his best friend Bernie Ludden gone to the West Coast and his girlfriend Susan moving back to Boston which eventually caused them to break up at least for the time being Don was pretty much alone he was still playing in the band The Monday quintet that him and Bernie had played in when he started getting interested in jazz music he was asked to join a band from Ocala Florida called flow they were described by Don as a free-form jazz rock band heavily influenced by pot Flo worked on original material and in the fall of 1968 they loaded up a beat-up van and headed to New York to play a showcase for some record labels to the surprise they were offered a record deal with a five thousand dollar advance they quickly talked it over and accepted Don says the five grand lasted about a month as they put a down payment on a bigger and better van a warm coat each and a few new mics for the PA system the rest of the money went on pot food rolled cigarettes and Jack Daniels but they were in New York with a record deal the band worked as much as they could but it was pretty clear to Don after a year or so this wasn't going to work they did make it to Woodstock in 1969 but just to hang out and watch it was around this time Don decided to call his old girlfriend Susan who had moved to Boston after tracking her down they started back seeing each other again and it was then Don decided to leave the band flow after a few hard words and an argument over the van the band owned Don split to Boston and Susan probably a really good move on Don's part after moving in with Susan in a small apartment Don took whatever gigs he could find playing his nylon string guitar at the Holiday Inn for a dinner crowd to working at a small studio just hiring session musicians from other college he made 50 bucks a week for that Don married Susan in April of 1971 he invited his parents up to Boston and would see them for the first time since he left home years earlier his brother would come also and be his best man after the wedding him and his father shook hands so it seems the ice was broken just a little between Don and his family Don and Bernie kept in touch and by this time burning had left the Flying Burrito Brothers worked for Linda Ronstadt and has stayed in the band after they left Linda and started a nice career with the Eagles in 1972 Bernie came to Boston as the newly foreign band the Eagles were opening for yes they were doing a one-nighter at the Boston University Bernie called Don and invited him and Susan to the show and to hang out it was at this show Don was to meet Glenn Frey Don Henley and Randy Meisner for the first time Bernie introduced him to Glenn Frey as the lightest fingers I know on a Stratocaster Glenn said hey fingers and I guess this is where the nickname stuck as he was always known around the Eagles as Don fingers Felder Bernie and Don Jam some on a few guitars they had laying around there in the dressing room before the show everyone was getting into it in parting after the show that night Bernie told Susan you should let Don go to LA just to prove he can do it you'd never look back either of you I guess you could say that the seed burning plant has started to grow that night because two months later Don and Susan sold what they could of their belongings loaded up the rest of it in their 1965 Volvo with 120 000 miles on it rented a trailer put their dog kilo in the back seat and headed to Los Angeles this was the summer of 1972. the song Take It Easy had just been released by The Eagles that may and was to climb up the Billboard charts and Peak at number 12 in Late July about the same time Don and Susan were heading west to a New Life after arriving in California they stayed with Bernie Ludden until they got a place of Their Own Don and Susan both took day jobs and Don started looking around for gigs playing guitar it took him almost a year to land a decent one burning had introduced Don to Irving azoff the Eagles manager Irving set Don up for an audition with a fellow named David blue who had cut an album and was needing an instrumentalist to play his music as a Duo Don quickly learned the mandolin and lap steel and headed over to where David blue was living in an apartment they sat down and worked on the songs and blue hired Don that day they played their first gig in September of 1973. the tour went well and they were opening for Graham Nash and David Crosby and one night their guitar player took sick and Don filled in the show went real well and Graham Nash came to Don later and said it went so well that they weren't having their guitars back now Don was opening with David blue and then after the intermission he came out and played with Crosby and Nash Stephen Stills came on the tour later on to play some now Donna Steven had played together years back in Florida so as Don put it things were going real well and a lot of fun and for a while it was Crosby Stills Nash and Felder the tour ended that winter and one was set up for the following spring of 1974 with the same lineup Don was thrilled and accepted Susan by this time was pregnant with her first child and they moved into a bigger apartment but a phone call in January would change Don's life in a big way the call was from Glenn Frey and he asked Don if he would like to come over to the studio and lay down a track on a song they were doing Glenn said they needed a real dirty slide sound and thought it would be a perfect fit for Don Don said yes that he could really use the extra session work wrote down the address of the studio and told Glenn he'd see him the next day [Music] the next day Don laid down the guitar for a song called Good Day in hell they got it in about six takes so Glenn asked him to do another which was the song already gone after finishing up they kicked back had a few beers and listened to the playback Don then packed up and went home the next morning at breakfast the phone rang at Don's house it was Glenn Frey and Donald fishley became a member of the Eagles that morning it wasn't long after the album on the border that the Eagles had his first meeting and became the Eagles Limited to where all five members were to share in the prophets equally everything was split five ways contracts were signed and they got down to business the next album one of these nights pushed the group to the front of the line but with the change in music and Direction Don's friend Bernie Ludden was not happy he would eventually leave the group and move to Hawaii it was announced on December 20th 1975 that Bernie was leaving the group and that the group was hiring their manager Irving azoff's client Joe Walsh to take his place I'm sure many people in the rock and roll world was like myself and thought Joe Walsh and the Eagles I mean to me back then Joe was just a guitar god with a Les Paul and his Marshal cranked up to 11. how could he ever tone it down to fit the Eagles but he toned on a little and the Eagles toned up and they met in the middle and the album that was to come next was Monumental with Don and Joe on guitars they became a force to be reckoned with Don and Joe seemed to bring out the best in each other and the Eagles soared but if you want to hear Joe's story I did a video on him a while back I'll put a link up here to it and one in the description below so you can all check it out Joe's story is one I'm sure you will enjoy so a little over a year after Joe Walsh replaced Bernie Ludden the album Hotel California was released what a great album it was the guitar work on that album was just fantastic dunfelder wrote the basic layout of the music for the title track Hotel California and him and Joe worked out the solos together Don Henley wrote a majority of the words with a Little Help from Glenn Frey the whole song was just captivating as was the whole album really but as the touring started so did the stress now as Don said in his book The Band fought all the time which earlier led to an almost fizzle confrontation between Glenn Frey and Bernie leddon when he left well this time again it was Glenn and the bass player Randy Meisner and things got even a little more physical after Glenn called Randy a either way Randy decided to quit the group I guess it must have really been bad for him to walk away from all that hard work and money but Randy just up and left him and Bernie both gave up their shares of the Eagles and walked away leaving just three members owning the shares in the group Timothy Schmidt was hired to replace him and the Eagles moved on but it wasn't to last long as now Don Henley and Glenn were starting to really get into it and finally after another great album the long run they called it quits after Don Felder and again it was Glenn Frey in the middle of a confrontation that almost came to blows after a show Don admits that cocaine had a lot to do with it and I'm sure it did the stress of the constant touring and then going back into the studio and trying to come up with something better or at least as good as Hotel California either way the Eagles were done and all five members went their separate ways at least for the time being and things would really never be the same again Don came home and things basically went from bad to worse for him his wife who I'm sure had her suspicions had went through some fan mail and confronted Don about the parties and women on the road Don tried to step back into a father role and head of the house that he had been away from for so long and left his wife to handle it all the outcome wasn't going to be good no matter what so don was out of a job his marriage heading downhill he was trying to make up for lost time with his kids not a good situation to be in I guess the only thing that did work was that he did have money and he decided to build a new home he turned down any offers to go on the road Don Henley even called him to go on tour with him to push his solo album and Don turned him down he did do a lot of session work around town with the likes of Stevie Nicks Bob Seger Warren zevonne Boz Scaggs and the Bee Gees he also helped Joe Walsh out with his solo album with all the other Eagles doing solo albums Don decided to give it a shot the album was called airborne and had eight songs on it he got some good players to help him out including Dave Mason Kenny Loggins and Timothy B Schmidt to help him out on the harmony vocals but even with all the help the album was just okay in my opinion and it got some bad reviews too I think one of the biggest issues with it was Don produced it and I'm sure he was involved in the final mixdown and his vocals are just buried still a decent album and we're giving it a listen I just wish you could hear the lead vocals a bit better even with headphones on it's still tough the album cover which had a Fender guitar coming down on a parachute and Don's last names takes on the fender lettering is pretty catchy Through The Years there were a few attempts to get the Eagles back together but a snag always seemed to come up and then some of Nashville's country artists did covers of the Eagles hits calling the album common threads and it was a big seller a big success Travis Tritt I guess can take some of the credit for finally getting the Eagles back together as he recorded the song Take It Easy for the common threads album and decided he wanted all the eagles in the video someway somehow magic was worked and they all came together for the video and that got the ball rolling and after a lot of talk the contracts were signed and the Eagles were back together in 1994 the Hell Freezes Over tour started the album a mixture of some studio and live Cuts was released after the video which came first and now has sold over 9 million copies the tour which ran from 1994 to 1996 was one of the most successful in history the Eagles were back on top again but as always with that band things behind the scene wasn't so good Don being a third shareholder in the Eagles limited wasn't too happy with the way the money was being spent Don and Glenn coming off some great solo careers with stars and acting like it away Don didn't like it and I guess he was right but to get him off their backs since he just didn't walk away leave his shares on the table and quit Like Bernie and Randy did Don Henley and Glenn Frey fired Don Felder in early 2001. Don ended up suing and although the details of the settlement cannot be disclosed Don came out on the good end at least money-wise I guess he did but he has not been back with the band since he was heard his good friend Joe Walsh didn't stick up for him more when he was fired but he said he wasn't mad and he totally understood what Joe and Timothy were both coming from they had to think of their jobs too Don owned in that company Tim and Joe were just sidemen as they still are today Dom went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 along with other members and former members of The Eagles I do think they were the best and Peak during the Hotel California days but you could not deny whether it was early Eagles or later Eagles the music was great Don Felder after being fire wrote his book Heaven and Hell My Life in the Eagles although Henley and Fry filed a counter shoot against Don Felder and held up the book's publication it was finally released in the United States in 2008. the book is very good well written and worth the read Don Felder at 75 years old still looks good today and is out touring with his group playing all the old Eagles hits he says he don't do it for the morning he just does it because he enjoys playing the band he had last time I saw them were Top Notch and so was Don's guitar playing his tone was still sweet and his fingers smooth if you get a chance to go and see the show it's basically a tribute band to the eagles with Don singing all the songs but you will still hear some of them great guitar licks that made the eagle soar from 1974 to 2001. thanks for watching hope you enjoyed the video if you did please hit the like button subscribe ring the bell to get notified catch y'all later thanks again [Music]

Channel: River Docs

Views: 3,599

Keywords: The Eagles, Hotel California, Don Felder, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Bernie Leadon, Timothy B Schmidt, Randy Meinser, Band, 70'sRock, Guitarist, documentary, mini doc

Id: Bl4CZCWwnyE

Length: 21min 57sec (1317 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 02 2023