He is a guitarist born in Gainesville, Florida. His first guitar was acquired when he swapped it for cherry bombs with a friend, and by the time he was 15 he had become a member of the band The Continentals, who Steven Stills also played for at the time.
After Steven Stills left the group renamed themselves to the Maundy Quintet and he was replaced by Bernie Leadon who would be a musical associate of his for many years. The Quintet broke up and he joined a band called Flow who released just one album and after he moved on to Boston he met the Eagles on their first tour.
After being hired by David Blue he worked on an album and toured with him as the opening act for Crosby and Nash and then the Eagles asked that he join them after they had requested he perform the slide guitar for them on their song “Good Day in Hell”. He got involved with the songwriting and co-wrote several of their songs and his greatest success, and the one he will be most remembered for with his guitar solo, is the No. 1 hit “Hotel California” which also won a Grammy Award for “Record of the Year” in 1978. The band broke up in 1983 when he concentrated on his solo career and released the album Airborne.
His songwriting and performances have been used in TV and film, including songs in the film Heavy Metal, the theme song to the cartoon series Galaxy High, and in the mid-1980s he also had his own musical comedy TV show which he hosted, called FTV.
He reunited with the Eagles in 1994 and continued to perform with them until he was fired in 2001. He took lawsuits out on Glenn Frey and Don Healey and Eagles Ltd. for wrongful termination and was said to be seeking $50 million in damages.
Eagles Recordings
One of These Nights (Don Henley/Glenn Frey)
Visions (Don Felder/Don Henley)
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