Don Felder
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| Don Felder | |
|---|---|
| Image:Donfelder.jpg | |
| Born | September 21, 1947 Gainesville, Florida, USA |
| Genre(s) | Rock |
| Affiliation(s) | Eagles (1974 - 2001) |
| Notable guitars | Gibson ES-355 |
| Years active | 1974- present |
| Official site | www.feldermusic.com |
Donald Felder (born September 21, 1947 in Gainesville, Florida) is an American rock musician, best known as guitarist for The Eagles from 1974-2001, and for the distinctive "Hotel California" guitar solo.
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[edit] Early life and influences
Don Felder was first attracted to music after watching Elvis Presley live on the Ed Sullivan show. He got his first guitar when he was around 11, which he is believed to have exchanged with a friend for a handful of cherry bombs. He was heavily influenced by rock and roll and when he was 15, joined his first band, The Continentals, which also had Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills & Nash fame. Around this time he also met Bernie Leadon, later one of the founding members of the Eagles. Bernie replaced Stills and the band became the Maundy Quintet.
After the band broke up, Felder went to New York with a band called "Flow", which released only a single jazz album. While in New York, Felder improved his mastery of the guitar and learned various styles.
After Flow broke up, Felder moved to Boston, where he got a job in a recording studio. There he met the rest of the Eagles in 1971, while they were on their first tour. In 1972, Felder moved to California where he was hired as guitar player for an album by David Blue. He helped Blue put together a tour, in which they opened for Crosby and Nash for around nine months.
In 1974 Felder was called by the Eagles to add slide guitar to their song "Good Day in Hell". On the next day he was invited to join the band, some say after a similar offer made to Joe Walsh was rejected. Walsh in turn joined the band a year later, after Bernie Leadon quit. Felder and Walsh were already friends, and together they added a harder edge to Eagles music. The band starting moving away from their earlier country rock style, towards rock and roll. On the band's fourth album, One of These Nights, Felder sang lead vocal on the song "Visions," which he co-wrote with Don Henley. This is the only Eagles song that Don Felder has ever sung lead vocal on.
[edit] Hotel California
The first album to be released by the Eagles after their makeover was the legendary Hotel California. The album was a major hit. Felder wrote the music for the album's title track, "Hotel California". After the tremendous success of Hotel California and the tour that followed, the band found itself under tremendous pressure to produce a worthy follow-up album. Following the next album, The Long Run, which took almost three years to complete, the band broke up.
[edit] Post-1970s career
Following the break up of the Eagles, Felder focused more on his family but also embarked on a solo career. In 1983, he released a rock and roll album titled Airborne which to date remains his only solo LP, although he contributed the songs Heavy Metal (Takin' A Ride) and All of You to the 1981 film "Heavy Metal" as well as the title track from the movie "Wild Life". In 1985-86 he hosted a musical comedy show entitled FTV. In 1986 he wrote and performed all the music and the theme song to the animated series Galaxy High.
In 1994, the Eagles (including Felder) regrouped for a concert aired on MTV, which resulted in the new album Hell Freezes Over. Felder continued as a member of the Eagles through their 1999-2000 New Year's concerts.
[edit] Termination and lawsuit
On February 6, 2001, Don Felder was fired from the Eagles. Felder responded by filing two lawsuits against "Eagles, Ltd., a California corporation; Don Henley, an individual; Glenn Frey, an individual; and Does 1-50", alleging wrongful termination, breach of implied-in-fact contract, breach of fiduciary duty, reportedly seeking $50,000,000 in damages.<ref name="times">Leeds, Jeff. "Reborn Eagles Lose Peaceful, Easy Feeling", Los Angeles Times, 2002-12-08, p. C-1.</ref><ref name="yahoo">Atwood, Brett. "Eagles Sued by Don Felder Over Dismissal", Yahoo! Music, 2001-02-12.</ref>
In his latter complaint, Felder alleges that from the 1994 Hell Freezes Over tour onward, Henley and Frey had "...insisted that they each receive a higher percentage of the band's profits...", whereas the money had previously been split in five equal portions. Felder also accuses them of coercing Felder into signing an agreement under which Henley and Frey would receive three times as much of the Selected Works: 1972-1999 proceeds as would Felder. This box set, released in November 2000 sold approximately 267,000 copies at about $60 apiece.
On behalf of Henley and Frey, Daniel M. Petrocelli stated:
“
”Henley and Frey then counter-sued Felder for breach of contract, alleging that Felder had written and attempted to sell the rights to a "tell-all" book. No such book has been published.
On January 23, 2002, the Los Angeles County Court consolidated the two complaints. Judge Mel Red Recana presides. Recana is also the author of the 1997 paperback How to Try Your Own Case in Court-And Win! (ISBN 1880090317).
The next hearing in the Felder case is scheduled for December 4, 2006.
[edit] Trivia
- The third minute of Mojo Nixon's 1990 song "Don Henley Must Die" contains an exaggerated rendition of the "Hotel California" guitar solo, which was originally performed by Felder. Ironically, this segment is followed by Nixon's voiceover to the guitarist "Quit playing that crap! you're out of the band!" Felder, however, would not be fired until eleven years after the song's release.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- State of California, Superior Court, Los Angeles County, cases:
- BC244814 "Don Felder vs. Eagles, Ltd. et al." (February 8, 2001)
- BC249741 "Don Felder vs. Don Henley" (May 2, 2001).
[edit] External links
| Eagles |
| Glenn Frey | Don Henley | Joe Walsh | Timothy B. Schmit |
| Randy Meisner | Bernie Leadon | Don Felder |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio albums: Eagles | Desperado | On the Border | One of These Nights | Hotel California | The Long Run | The Long Road To Eden |
| Live: Eagles Live | Hell Freezes Over | Farewell 1 Tour-Live from Melbourne |
| Compilations: Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) | Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 | The Very Best of the Eagles |
