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Don Felder has 73 candles on his birthday cake today. You will probably remember Don the most from his time with the Eagles, but there is a lot more to him. Here is an edited wikipedia post on Don:

Don Felder was born in Gainesville, Florida on September 21, 1947. He was first attracted to music after watching Elvis Presley live on The Ed Sullivan Show. He acquired his first guitar when he was about ten years old, which he has stated he exchanged with a friend at the five-and-dime for a handful of cherry bombs. A self-taught musician, he was heavily influenced by rock and roll. At the age of fifteen he started his first band, the Continentals with friend Stephen Stills.

Around that time, he met Bernie Leadon, who later became one of the founding members of the Eagles. Leadon replaced Stephen Stills in the Continentals, which eventually changed its name to the Maundy Quintet.

Felder and Leadon both attended Gainesville High School in Gainesville, Florida. In the 1967 Gainesville High School yearbook, the Maundy Quintet is pictured next to another Gainesville High student and his early band, Tom Petty and the Epics. Felder gave Petty guitar lessons at a local music shop for about 18 months, at which time Felder also learned how to play slide guitar from Duane Allman. The Maundy Quintet recorded and released a 45 rpm single on the Tampa-based Paris Tower label in 1967, which received airplay in north-central Florida.

After the Maundy Quintet broke up, Felder went to Manhattan, New York City with a band called Flow, which released a self-titled improvisational rock fusion album in 1970. After Flow broke up, Felder moved to Boston, where he got a job in a recording studio. There, through his friendship with Leadon, he met the rest of the Eagles in 1972 while they were on their first tour. In 1973, Felder moved to Los Angeles where he was hired as guitar player for a tour by David Blue, replacing David Lindley who was touring with Crosby & Nash. He helped Blue put together a tour, during which they opened at a few Crosby and Nash shows in November 1973 and for Neil Young at the opening of the Roxy Theatre. Once again, Felder replaced Lindley, this time in Crosby & Nash's band when Lindley fell ill. He would also jam from time to time with the Eagles in their rehearsal space. In 1974 he featured on the Michael Dinner album The Great Pretender.

In early January 1974, Felder was called by the Eagles to add slide guitar to their song "Good Day in Hell" and some guitar licks to "Already Gone". The following day he was invited to join the band. The band started moving away from their initial country rock style in the direction of rock. On the band's fourth album, 'One of These Nights,' Felder sang lead vocal on the song "Visions" (the only song to have him singing lead), which he co-wrote with Don Henley, and arranged the title track's distinctive guitar solo and bass line. After founding member Bernie Leadon quit in 1975 following the tour to support the album, Joe Walsh joined the band. Felder had previously jammed with fellow guitar player Walsh while Leadon was still a member of the Eagles, and together as dual guitar leads they would eventually become one of rock music's most memorable onstage partnerships. Felder also doubled on banjo, mandolin and pedal steel guitar on future tours, all of which were previously handled by Leadon.

The first album the Eagles released after the lineup change was Hotel California, which became a major international bestseller. Felder submitted "16 or 17 tracks" that resulted in the songs "Victim of Love" and the album's title track, "Hotel California". The latter would become the band's most successful recording. However, friction arose during the recording sessions when Felder insisted on singing the lead vocals on "Victim of Love" after claiming that he had been promised the lead vocal, but Henley has denied that any promises were made and despite a desire to write and sing more songs, Felder was outvoted by both Henley and Glenn Frey. According to Henley, Felder asking to sing "Victim of Love" is the equivalent of Henley asking to play lead guitar on "Hotel California" and they did let Felder have a turn at recording the lead vocals, but nobody was satisfied with the results, so band manager Irving Azoff took Felder out for a meal while Henley erased Felder's lead vocal and replaced it with his own lead vocals for the final release. According to Walsh, Felder never forgave them for the snub and Felder said it was initially a bitter pill to swallow because he believed that Henley had stolen the song from him, but he has since said that there is no way to argue with his lead vocal compared to that of Henley. He would never again sing any subsequent lead vocals for the rest of his tenure in the band.

After the release of Hotel California and the tour that followed, the Eagles found themselves under tremendous pressure to repeat this success and tensions were exacerbated by alcohol, cocaine and other mind-altering substances. Bassist Randy Meisner quit the band after the tour due to exhaustion and he was replaced by former Poco bassist Timothy B. Schmit, who had also replaced him in that band. Nevertheless, the fighting did not end with the addition of the mild-mannered Schmit, but rather it intensified during the recording of The Long Run, which took a staggering 18 months to complete, and Felder and Frey were especially hostile to each other; despite respecting each other's musical abilities, they did not get along personally and this led to animosity and minor physical fights. Viewing Henley and Frey as too controlling and arrogant, Felder sarcastically called them "the Gods" and believed that they did not treat him respectfully. In addition, he was also dissatisfied with not getting enough of his music onto the records and felt like nothing more than a glorified sideman, but this discontent would manifest not just in recording sessions, but also to the extent of ensuring he got as big a hotel suite as everyone else on tour.

According to Henley, Felder attempted to gain more control by co-opting Walsh so frequently that it was the pair up against himself and Frey when the band was dividing into factions and even Henley and Frey began to have their differences, thus causing the band to break up.

At a concert in Long Beach, California for Senator Alan Cranston on July 31st, 1980, known as the "Long Night at Wrong Beach", things hit breaking point when the animosity between Felder and Frey boiled over before the show began after Felder said, "You're welcome – I guess" to Cranston and his wife, thus offending Frey. He angrily confronted Felder and the pair began to threaten beatings throughout the show. Felder recalls Frey telling him during "Best of My Love," "I'm gonna kick your ass when we get off the stage." After the concert, Felder smashed, according to Frey, "his cheapest guitar". The Eagles disbanded shortly thereafter.

Sparked by the success of the tribute album Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, the Eagles (including Felder) regrouped 14 years later for a concert aired on MTV, which resulted in a new album Hell Freezes Over in 1994. For the live MTV performance, the band's signature song "Hotel California" was rearranged into an acoustic version and Felder kicked off the set by performing it with a new, flamenco-style intro.

Felder performed (with all current and former band members) the hits "Take It Easy" and "Hotel California" at the band's 1998 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Manhattan, New York City. He continued as a member of the Eagles until 2001.

On February 6, 2001, Felder was fired from the Eagles. He responded by filing two lawsuits alleging wrongful termination, breach of implied-in-fact contract, and breach of fiduciary duty, reportedly seeking $50 million in damages. Felder alleged 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 accused them of coercing him into signing an agreement under which Henley and Frey would receive three times more of the Selected Works: 1972–1999 proceeds than would Felder. This box set, released in November 2000, has sold approximately 267,000 copies and earned over $16 million.

Fast forward to today. Don was still touring prior to the pandemic and we are sure will continue to do so when he can. If you ever get a chance to see him perform, well let's just say it is mandatory attendance at The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge.

Happy Birthday Don!!! ... See MoreSee Less

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Saw him in concert about 2 years ago. Same guitar 🎸 He is amazing

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Good Monday Morning! ... See MoreSee Less

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One of the great voices in the history of music left us 47 years ago today. Jim Croce along with 5 others lost their lives when the plane they were riding in hit a treetop on take off from the Natchitoches Regional Airport in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Maury Muehleisen, Jim's long time friend and music partner was also killed along with charter pilot Robert N. Elliott, comedian George Stevens, manager and booking agent Kenneth D. Cortose, and road manager Dennis Rast. Croce had just completed a concert at Northwestern State University's Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches and was flying to Sherman, Texas, for a concert at Austin College. The plane crashed an hour after the end of the concert. Croce was 30 years old.

Jim had finished recording the album "I Got a Name" one week before his death. During his tours, Croce grew increasingly homesick, and decided to take a break from music and settle down with his wife and infant son after his "Life and Times" tour was completed.

In a letter he wrote to his wife, which arrived after his death, Croce stated his intention to quit music and stick to writing short stories and movie scripts as a career, and withdraw from public life.

Do you remember when you first heard of the crash?

RIP Jim, Maury, Robert, George, Kenneth and Dennis. ... See MoreSee Less

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