The eagles Ronstadt Story

The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. The founding members were Glenn Frey (guitars, vocals), Don Henley (drums, vocals), Bernie Leadon (guitars, vocals) and Randy Meisner (bass guitar, vocals). With five number-one singles, six Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, and six number-one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and Hotel California, were ranked among the 20 best-selling albums in the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of America. By 2006, both albums were among the top three best-selling albums in the United States. 

Back in 2014, Linda Ronstadt recounted how a legendary rock band came to be. 

Glenn Frey and Don Henley knew each other before they joined Linda Ronstadt's band in 1971. But it was that time together that led to the formation of the Eagles later that year. 

Upon the publication of her 2014 autobiography Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir – two years prior to the death of Glenn Frey on Monday (Jan. 18) at age 67 -- Ronstadt told Billboard about the adventure of incubating the Eagles. 

"[Producer] John Boylan was very active in helping me put a band together in those days. He knew all the musicians, and apparently Don Henley had already sent him some songs he had written. He'd heard me sing, he'd heard my records, he wanted to meet me and he came to L.A. hoping he could, and he had written some songs he hoped maybe I'd record. He sent them to John and they didn't turn out to be good songs for me at the time, but I heard him play the drums when I was walking through the room at the Troubadour and I thought he was such a good drummer. He had country mixed with rock in a way that didn't compromise either genre. So I said, 'Let's see if we can get him to play drums,' and John went to talk to him and he said, 'All right.' 

"So we hired [Henley] to play drums. And then I needed a guitar player. I couldn't take Bernie Leadon because he was working with the Flying Burrito Brothers, so I said 'All right, I'll get Glenn Frey. He can play really good guitar.' I was living with J.D. Souther then, and [Frey] was J.D.'s music partner. They had a group called Longbranch Pennywhistle. They were kind of breaking up; they decided to go their separate ways, but they were still really good friends. So I asked Glenn if he would come on that tour with us.

Eagles' Don Henley on Glenn Frey: 'He Was Like a Brother to Me' 

"In those days we didn't have enough money to put people in separate rooms, so Glenn and Don were rooming together and they each discovered the other could sing and was a great songwriter. Glenn used to call Don his secret weapon. He said, 'I'm gonna do a band with Don. We're gonna do a band together.' I said, 'That's a great idea.' 

"So we all talked about it. John said, 'I can help you do this. I can help you put this band together, and while you're waiting to get a record deal, you can play with Linda and you can have a gig.' It was one of those kinds of situations where it was in everybody's advantage. So I suggested they get Bernie Leadon to play guitar because I liked Bernie and John suggested that they get Randy Meisner, and that's how the Eagles were formed. 

"They used to rehearse in my house, where I was living with J.D., because we had a bigger living room than they did. And I remember coming home one day and they had rehearsed 'Witchy Woman' and they had all the harmonies worked out, four-part harmonies. It was fantastic. I knew it was gonna be a hit. You could just tell. They had really strong voices, really strong playing, really strong songwriting ideas and they had an extended pool of songwriters like Jack Tempchin and J.D. Souther and Jackson Browne. It was just an amazing time. There was no way they could miss with all that going for them." 

Now, Eagles Ronstadt Experience remakes the biggest hits of The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt performed by some of the world’s finest Musicians. This tremendous tribute to the writing, performance, style and sound of the California country, folk, and rock music superstars has been carefully and thoughtfully re-created for the highest entertainment value. Most of these musicians grew up listening, learning, and passionately playing and singing along to what is now truly A phenomenon worth recreating. Enjoy the journey as they take you on the “Experience”... the “Eagles Ronstadt Experience”.

 

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