Blimp Time-Hop: Happy 73rd Birthday to Former Eagle Don Felder
Happy Birthday to the guy who wrote the music for the song, Hotel California. That guy is Don Felder. He was born in Gainesville, Florida on September 21, 1947.
Don was invited by the Eagles to play slide guitar on the song, Good Day in Hell in early 1974 as a guest when they were working on songs for On The Border.
Shortly after that, he became a full-time band member. I guess Don Henley and Glenn Frey liked what they heard, huh.
When Joe Walsh joined the band in the mid-seventies, he and Don became one of the most memorable guitar duos in rock history.
Don Felder was a guitarist and vocalist in the Eagles from that time until the band's break-up in 1980. They reunited in 1994 for Hell Freezes Over and Felder was an Eagle until an ugly legal dispute led to his departure in 2001.
To learn more, watch the History of the Eagles, I sure did. Wowza, what a story. In fact, it's a rock doc I find myself rewatching frequently.
Here's a great video of Don Felder telling the story of how the song Hotel California came to be.
Don Felder was on the bill with Styx and REO a few years ago upta Bangor.
What an incredible set of Eagles classics and of course, his 80s solo hit and Blimpster fave, Heavy Metal.
Tommy Shaw from Styx joined him for a really great Take It Easy that night.
Check it out.