The Eagles

The Eagles came together in Los Angeles in 1971, and they arrived already road-tested: Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner had all worked as hired hands for Linda Ronstadt, some of them touring with her and all of them playing on her third album, before deciding to fly on their own. David Geffen put them on his brand-new Asylum label, and the 1972 debut, Eagles, came out swinging with "Take It Easy" and "Witchy Woman". Frey and Henley, the latter singing from behind his drums, were the engine room; Leadon's guitar and Meisner's harmonies gave the country rock its dust and its sugar.

Desperado followed in 1973 and sold only middling, though its title ballad has since outlived plenty of bigger hits. Don Felder came in on guitar in 1974, and On the Border carried "Already Gone" and handed the band its first number-one single, "Best of My Love". One of These Nights went all the way to the top of the album charts in 1975, with its sleek, after-dark title track going to number one and "Lyin' Eyes" and "Take It to the Limit" riding shotgun. That same year Leadon walked, and guitarist and singer Joe Walsh took his place.

A greatest-hits set warmed up the crowd, and then late in 1976 came Hotel California, the band at its most widescreen and most unsettled. The slow-burning title track and "New Kid in Town" both went to number one, and "Life in the Fast Lane" had snarl to spare. Meisner handed the bass to Timothy B. Schmit in 1977, The Long Run in 1979 delivered "Heartache Tonight", and then the whole operation flew apart in 1980.

Hell froze over in 1994, just as the reunion album's title promised, and the band kept touring from there, adding Long Road Out of Eden in 2007. When Frey died in 2016 they regrouped the following year with his son Deacon Frey and Vince Gill sharing his vocal parts. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame took them in in 1998, a long way from the Best New Artist Grammy nomination they picked up back in 1973.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.