|
Don
Felder was just a poor boy from Florida, but when he joined the
Eagles he soared into the stratosphere. Alongside former bandmates
Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, and Felder’s childhood
friend Bernie Leadon, he sold tens of millions of records (Eagles:
Their Greatest Hits: 1971-1975 is the bestselling album of all
time), performed before countless adoring fans, and co-wrote
the renowned hit Hotel California. His guitar-playing ability
lifted the band from mere popularity to iconic status. And now
Don Felder finally breaks the Eagles’ decades of public
silence to take fans behind the scenes - where drugs, greed and
endless acrimony threatened to tear the band apart almost daily.
“Maybe
there was too much talent. Maybe the personalities clashed with
the egos. Whatever the reason, there were always these explosive
arguments going on while I sat silently in a corner. I never
expected it to survive. Never once did I feel, ‘Hey, I
got it made. This thing’s gonna last for years.’” Felder
was wrong about that, but he was also right: the band split up
in 1980, only to reunite for 1994’s mega-selling Hell Freezes
Over album and tour. But tempers continued to flare, and in 2001,
after twenty-seven contentious years in the Eagles, Felder was
summarily fired by the “board of directors”: Frey
and Henley. Lawsuits and counter-suits followed.
In fact, drugs,
greed, and endless acrimony had threatened to tear the band apart
almost daily. In Heaven and Hell, Don Felder finally breaks the
Eagles’ decades of public silence and takes the fans behind
the scenes.
|