Don Felder 1755289 225593196 2008-07-14T13:39:48Z 96.227.166.95 /* Termination and lawsuit */ {{Infobox musical artist |Img=Replace this image male.svg <!-- only free-content images are allowed for depicting living people - see [[WP:NONFREE]] --> | | Name = Don Felder | Born = {{birth date and age|1947|9|21}}<br>[[Gainesville, Florida|Gainesville]], [[Florida]], [[United States|U.S.]] | Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | Instrument = [[Guitar]], [[Pedal Steel Guitar]], [[Singer|Vocals]], [[Keyboard (instrument)|Keyboards]], [[Mandolin]] | Genre = [[Rock music|Rock]] | Associated_acts = [[Eagles]] | Years_active = 1974 - present | URL = | Notable_instruments = [[Gibson EDS-1275]] }} '''Donald William<ref>[http://www.country-aus-berlin.de/002K09.htm Der Country-Star-Kalender: September]</ref> Felder''' (born [[September 21]] [[1947]] in [[Gainesville, Florida]]) is an American [[rock music]]ian who was a member of the [[Eagles]] from [[1974]]&ndash;[[1980]] and from [[1994]]&ndash;[[2001]]. Felder was the primary guitar soloist and co-writer of the Eagles' hit song "[[Hotel California (song)|Hotel California]]". ==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 10, 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, started 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. He and Bernie both attended the same high school, Gainesville High School in Gainesville, Florida. Bernie replaced Stills and the band became the [[Maundy Quintet]]. An interesting note: in the 1966 Gainesville High School Yearbook the Maundy Quintet is pictured next to another Gainesville High student and his band that was destined for fame &mdash; [[Tom Petty]] and his early band the Epics. Felder has said that he gave Tom Petty guitar lessons. 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. ==Eagles== In 1974, Felder was called by the Eagles to add slide guitar to their song "[[Good Day in Hell]]". The following day he was invited to join the band, with the belief among some people that it came 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 the Eagles' musical sound. The band started moving away from their earlier [[country rock]] style, towards [[rock music|rock]]. 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]], and was the only Eagles song that Felder ever sang lead vocal on. The first album to be released by the Eagles after their makeover was ''[[Hotel California]]'', which became a major international bestseller. Felder wrote the music for the album's title track, "[[Hotel California (song)|Hotel California]]", and had originally introduced it, as an instrumental demo, to Henley and Frey who dismissed it as "Mexican Reggae"<ref>[http://www.glennfreyonline.com/quotes/songs.htm Glenn Frey Quotes: Songs<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>, though it would become the band's most successful recording. After the release of ''Hotel California'' and the tour that followed, the Eagles found themselves under tremendous pressure to repeat this success. Their next album, [[1979]]'s ''[[The Long Run (album)|The Long Run]]'', took almost three years to complete, after which the band broke up in [[1980]]. ==Post-1970s career== Following the break up of the Eagles, Felder focused more on his family but also embarked on a solo career. He worked on The [[Bee Gees]]' 1981 album ''[[Living Eyes (Bee Gees album)|Living Eyes]]'' as a session guitarist. In 1983, he released a rock and roll album titled ''[[Airborne (Don Felder album)|Airborne]]'' which to date remains his only solo LP, although he contributed the songs "Heavy Metal (Takin' a Ride)" (with former [[Eagles]] [[Don Henley]] and [[Timothy B. Schmit]] contributing backing vocals) and "All of You" to the 1981 film ''[[Heavy Metal (film)|Heavy Metal]]'', as well as the title track from the movie ''[[The Wild Life (film)|The Wild Life]]''. In 1985&ndash;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]]''. Felder appeared in the 1980 film ''[[Caddyshack]]'', particularly the synchronized-swimming scene in the golf-club pool. 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&ndash;2000 New Year's concerts. In 1999, Felder divorced his wife of 29 years, Susan Felder. The couple met when he was a struggling musician in Gainesville, Florida, and had four children together. He remarried to social worker Karin Nicholson in 2007. He claims that Nicholson was the driving force in helping him get over his split from the Eagles and form a new band. Felder penned the tell-all book [[Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974 - 2001)]] in 2006. The book was released in early 2008. Since its release, the book has been instrumental in exposing the truth behind the personalities of [[Glenn Frey]] and [[Don Henley]], as well as telling the truth behind his termination from the band in 2001. ==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 [[John Doe|Does]] 1-50", alleging wrongful termination, breach of implied-in-fact contract, and breach of fiduciary duty, reportedly seeking $50 million in damages.<ref name="times">{{cite news | title = Reborn Eagles Lose Peaceful, Easy Feeling | date = [[2002-12-08]] | url= http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/257926521.html?dids=257926521:257926521&FMT=ABS |last = Leeds|first = Jeff|work = [[Los Angeles Times]]|page = C-1}}</ref><ref name="yahoo">{{cite news | title = Eagles Sued by Don Felder Over Dismissal | date = [[2001-02-12]] | url = http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/12033366 |last = Atwood|first = Brett| work = [[Yahoo! Music]]}}</ref> In his latter complaint, 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 as much of the ''[[Selected Works: 1972-1999]]'' proceeds as would Felder. This box set, released in November [[2000 in music|2000]], has sold approximately 267,000 copies at about $60 apiece. 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. The book, ''Heaven and Hell'', was published in the [[United Kingdom]] on [[November 1]], [[2007]], but the initial American release was originally canceled after publisher [[Hyperion (publisher)|Hyperion]] elected to back out in September, when an entire print run of the book had to be recalled for further cuts and changes.<ref>[http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article2733019.ece Hell may have frozen over, but the Eagles are still feuding] ''[[The Times]]'', October 28, 2007</ref> The American edition of ''Heaven and Hell'' is now slated for publication by [[John Wiley & Sons]] on [[April 28]], [[2008]],<ref>[http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470289066.html Wiley: Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001)]</ref> with Felder embarking on a full publicity campaign surrounding its release. On [[January 23]], [[2002]], the Los Angeles County Court consolidated the two complaints and on [[May 8]], [[2007]], the case was dismissed after being settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. ==Discography== ;Eagles albums: *''[[On the Border]]'' (1974) *''[[One of These Nights]]'' (1975) *''[[Hotel California]]'' (1976) *''[[The Long Run (album)|The Long Run]]'' (1979) *''[[Eagles Live]]'' (1980) *''[[Hell Freezes Over]]'' (1994) ;Solo albums: *''[[Airborne (Don Felder album)|Airborne]]'' (1983) ==Eagles Songs== === Eagles songs co-written by Don Felder === *"Visions" from ''[[One of These Nights]]'' (co-written with [[Don Henley]]) *"Too Many Hands" from ''[[One of These Nights]]'' (co-written with [[Randy Meisner]]) *"Victim of Love" from ''[[Hotel California]]'' (co-written with Henley, [[Glenn Frey]], and [[J.D. Souther]]) *"[[Hotel California (song)|Hotel California]]" from ''[[Hotel California]]'' (co-written with Henley/Frey) *"The Disco Strangler" from ''[[The Long Run (album)|The Long Run]]'' (co-written with Henley/Frey) *"Those Shoes" from ''[[The Long Run (album)|The Long Run]]'' (co-written with Henley/Frey) === Eagles song featuring Don Felder on lead vocal === *"Visions" from ''[[One of These Nights]]'' ==Trivia== *The third minute of [[Mojo Nixon]]'s 1990 song "[[Don Henley Must Die]]" contains an exaggerated rendition of the "[[Hotel California (song)|Hotel California]]" guitar solo, which was originally performed by Felder. 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. *One of Felder's songs "Heavy Metal (Takin' a Ride)" was featured in the South Park episode "[[Major Boobage]]" as the background music when [[Kenny McCormick|Kenny]] has a psychedelic trip. This is an homage to the 1981 film "[[Heavy Metal (film)|Heavy Metal]]" in which Felder's songs originally appeared in a similar context. *Felder and guitarist [[Stephen Stills]] were good friends growing up in Gainesville, Florida. According to Felder's 2008 book ''Heaven and Hell: My Life with The Eagles (1974 - 2001)'', Stills and him performed a few gigs before Stills left to Los Angeles, California. Felder claims he didn't hear anything from Stills until he flipped on the radio and heard Stills' voice singing the Buffalo Springfield smash [[For What It's Worth]]. The two have reconnected and collaborated numerous times since the late-1960s. *Felder was good friends with guitar legend [[Duane Allman]]. It was Allman who taught Felder how to play slide guitar, a trait that would impress Eagle [[Glenn Frey]] and help make him a member of the Eagles. *Childhood friend [[Bernie Leadon]], founding member of the [[Flying Burrito Brothers]] and the [[Eagles]], encouraged him to come out and live with him in Los Angeles, California, for many years. After years of resistance, Felder finally agreed. The move to the westcoast would prove as a smart decision as two years later Felder would find himself jamming with Leadon and his band the Eagles. The Eagles, at that time, were still relatively unknown but after Felder joined in 1974, they became superstars. *Bernie Leadon taught Felder to play acoustic guitar in exchange for Felder teaching him to play electric guitar. The two would use their talents as session musicians and later members of the [[Eagles]]. ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== <!-- unfortunately, it is quite impossible to permalink these case pages --> *[http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/civilCaseSummary/main.asp?referer=index 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]]). ==External links== *[http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:8z3tk6dx9kr0~T0 Don Felder] at [[Allmusic.com]] *{{imdb name|1105122}} {{Eagles}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Felder, Don}} [[Category:1947 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:American rock guitarists]] [[Category:People from Gainesville, Florida]] [[Category:Florida musicians]] [[Category:Eagles (band) members]] [[Category:Grammy Award winners]] [[de:Don Felder]] [[fr:Don Felder]] [[it:Don Felder]] [[no:Don Felder]] [[sv:Don Felder]]