Born in Gilmer, Texas, July 22, 1947, Henley cut his first solo album about his life in Texas called "Talking To The Moon" when he was still a boy. He attended Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas where he majored in English Literature and found that his love for music suited him well. Henley heeded the advice of an English teacher to pursue his interest and move to L.A.

Soon, Glenn's and J.D.'s and Don's recording hopes dried up as their record company went down the drain. The two future Eagles commiserated together, hanging out at the Troubadour and , in Don's words, "getting drunk a lot," until they were assembled by producer John Boylan in 1970 as backup musicians for Linda Ronstadt on her "Silk Purse" album. They then served as her backup band for two years. They played so well together that it was obvious they had to form a band of their own and Linda had to resign herself to losing them.

Randy Meisner came from Nebraska. He met the Buffalo Springfield when his group, The Poor, played the Whiskey in L.A. When the Buffalo Springfield broke up, he helped form Poco with Jim Messina and Richie Furay. After a year, Randy was not happy with the sound of the original Poco on record. He quit to join Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band. He wasn't happy in that situation either, and he had even left music altogether for some time before the Eagles rescued him from selling tractors. One night he filled in when Linda Ronstadt's bass player didn't show up, and Don and Glenn knew they had a bassist.

Meanwhile, Bernie Leadon was leaving his group, the Flying Burrito Brothers. Don, Glenn and Randy gave him a call, and he sat in one night when Linda played at Disneyland. They all liked what they heard. The foursome then picked the name Eagles because of its connection with Hopi mythology, rehearsed for two weeks, and went to see Glenn's manager, David Geffen. After a month of playing four sets a night in an Aspen, Colorado bar, Geffen packed away the newly born Eagles off to England to work with producer Glyn Johns.

The resulting album, "Eagles", was an incredible success. Three songs from that very first album -"Take it Easy," "Peaceful Easy Feelin," and Witchy Woman" - became hit singles. "Eagles" also established a precedent for future albums. They were to be a blend of country flavoured rock, spiked with bluegrass and strong ballads, and topped with sweet, full, high harmonies. The rocking pulse of a "Witchy Woman" would continue to be balanced by the banjo or mandolin oriented tunes such as "All of Us Are Sad" or Randy's plaintive "Take the Devil."

Their albums would also be, in Glenn's words, "song-oriented. It wasn't a planned move to record an album full of singles," he has said, "but we did set out to put ten good songs on every album instead of having fillers, where one song is the single because it's so obviously a better song than any other on the album." And just as the albums were to be song-oriented, the band itself was to be "music-oriented."

"It seems that for bands like "Alice Cooper" and the "Sweet", the music is secondary to the theater trip. For us, the music comes first," said Don Henley. There were those who argued that the Eagles were just a cover band for better and more sensitive songwriters such as Jackson Browne, who co-authored their first hit, "Take It Easy." But there had to be some scepticism regarding the Eagles' instant success. After all, they had barely been together for a few months and they had immediately received the commercial acceptance denied to other descendants of the superstar groups.

Their second album would force the Eagles to prove they were not a fluke. Once again, the band went off to work in England with Glyn Johns. In foggy London, they recorded the tales of a band of Western outlaws, the Doolin-Dalton gang. Critics did not respond to the concept behind the album, but as time has passed, cuts from the Desperado album such as "Tequila Sunrise" have become increasingly popular. In their stage show, in fact, the band performed "Desperado" not once, but twice, just as they do on record.

In 1974, The Eagles' third album, "On The Border", was a success if ever there was one. It was not, however, as easy to come by as one might think. The Eagles could not instantly wind up and grind out solid gold smashes, and "On The Border" marks the separation of the Eagles and producer Glyn Johns. The third time around their union failed to produce musical magic, and the Eagles were simply not satisfied with the tracks they had recorded. They had no choice but to leave Johns and damp London to look for inspiration back in the U.S.A. "What our music needed was a good kick in the ass," Glenn Frey told Circus magazine. The group decided that producer Bill Szymczyk was the man for the job and the Eagles re-recorded all of the tracks they had originally cut in England to finally complete the album.

"On The Border" also brought studio guitarist Don Felder to the Eagles' nest. Glenn had called him because Joe Walsh wasn't available to play slide on "Good Day in Hell." The four original Eagles got off on Felder's playing and company so much they eventually asked him to join the band permanently. The LP was a breakthrough record, going gold in three months and producing the #1 hit "Best of My Love," which didn't top the charts until almost a year after the album's release, just in time to set up their fourth album.

" One of These Nights", the first of four straight albums to top the charts, featured the title track, along with "Lyin' Eyes," and "Take It to the Limit," both Top Ten hits in 1975.

The album also marked Don Felder's emergence as a full-fledged Eagle. "He's definitely the fifth Eagle," said Glenn. "No doubt about it." This new, slightly harder-edged sound gave The Eagles their mainstream breakthrough. The album went platinum in America and finally cracked the European and British markets.

Near the end of 1975, The Eagles would lose their banjo and mandolin player Bernie Leadon, who by now was sick and tired of the road. The grind and pressures of touring made Bernie announce his retirement from the group, to return to session and studio work. He would be replaced by the one and only Joe Walsh.

Joe Walsh's musical career began in the form of leader of the "James Gang". An enigmatic, humorous and clever musician with an awesome talent for the guitar, Walsh's approach and blend of rock, pop and skewed humour has helped to forge an attractive solo career. Although chiefly recognised as a guitarist, Walsh has proved himself to be a handy keyboard player, along with being a competent, if croaky, vocalist.

The Eagles released a greatest-hits album in 1976 that has sold over 14 million copies, the best-selling hits record of all time and later that year completed what would become their signature album, "Hotel California".

The Eagles' transitioned from soft country to a harder, more electric mainstream rock sound. The songs were mostly downbeat tales about coping with LA's rock-star lifestyle, but its title track, portraying California as a hedonistic prison, hit #1 in the US, as did "New Kid In Town". The band hit the road, on a long and spectacular tour, using the Hotel California theme as a back drop.

By 1977, Randy Meisner had also grown tired of the hectic road life and left the Eagles to try an ill-fated attempt at a solo career He was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit, who had previously succeeded him in Poco.

It took the Eagles until the fall of 1979 to issue their next album, "The Long Run", another million-seller, featuring the chart-topper "Heartache Tonight" and Top Ten successes in the title track and "I Can't Tell You Why." The next year saw the release of a live album.

By 1981, The Eagles outstanding musicians had grown in different directions and constant artistic differences took their toll. The group had decided to split up and try their hands a solo careers. All five members released solo albums, the most successful of which have been by Henley and Frey .

After the Eagles permanently broke up, apparently to Henley's surprise, he immediately established himself as a viable solo artist with his very first album, "I Can't Stand Still". Not as financially rewarding as the later Eagles' records, the album still provided the listener with an impressive array of songs, launching the hit single "Dirty Laundry". Henley's second album, "Building the Perfect Beast" followed a few years later, further helping to establish him as a solo star and continue to impress the critics with his rich and thought-provoking music.

Further ambitious aspirations led Henley to pen and record his third and most successful album to date, 1989's "The End of the Innocence" providing the listening world with such gems as the title track, 'In a New York Minute" and "The Heart Of The Matter".

Glen Frey began his solo career in 1982 with the album "No Fun Aloud", notching a pair of Top 40 hits with "I Found Somebody" and "The One You Love." 1984's "The Allnighter" spawned the hit "Smuggler's Blues," which subsequently inspired an episode of the hit TV series Miami Vice on which Frey guest-starred. Other ill-advised acting roles saw a rapid return to music and the highly successful 1985 Top Ten smash "The Heat Is On," a single released from the soundtrack to the Eddie Murphy comedy Beverly Hills Cop. Further musical releases over the following years began to fare increasingly bad with the public, a shame, as his work was in fact growing in quality.

The appeal of The Eagles didn't dissolve with their break-up. Their back catalogue continued to sell throughout the 80s and 90s, and Henley and Frey eventually put aside their differences. They decided to re-form the band for a one shot summer stadium tour and re-assembled Don Felder, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit. Interestingly, they did not contact original bass player, Randy Meisner, who was publicly vocal about his disappointment of not being invited.

The Eagles recorded an album as part of an appearance on the TV show MTV Unplugged that featured acoustic versions of old favourites as well as several new songs. The resulting album, "Hell Freezes Over", was the first Eagles album of new recordings since 1980. The name of the disc was chosen in reference to the answer the band would give to fans when asked when the Eagles would get back together. It was released on Nov. 8, 1994, and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Album chart. "Hell Freezes Over" has sold more than 6 million copies in the U.S. to date (certified six times platinum) and remained in the Top 100 for nearly two years. The album was No. 4 on Billboard's 1995 year-end Top Album of the year ranking, and the Eagles were No. 5 among Top Album Artists of the year.

The Eagles won three 1995 American Music Awards: Favourite Pop Group, Favourite Adult Contemporary Artist, and Favourite Pop Rock Album for "Hell Freezes Over". Winners of four previous Grammy Awards, the Eagles were nominated for four more Grammys: Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Love Will Keep Us Alive," Best Pop Album and Best Engineered Album for "Hell Freezes Over", and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Hotel California."

In the U.S., the single "Get Over It" was released Oct. 11, 1994, and reached the Top 10 in the U.S. In February 1995, the track "Love Will Keep Us Alive" hit No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and remained there for more than seven months. In summer, the "Learn To Be Still" track made the Top 20 on the Adult Contemporary list.

When the tour ended, the band once again went their separate ways to pursue solo projects. Don Henley began work on a new album and Joe Walsh has appeared as a spaced out guitar player on "The Drew Carey Show".

Don Henley had this to say about touring with The Eagles again in the 1990s. "It was just like it always was, actually. There were moments of great elation and joy, and there were moments of great misery and disappointment, anger. Things don’t really change that much, you know. People don’t change that much... people don’t change, they just become more who they really are."

Despite their in-fighting, The Eagles re-united to play a farewell to the nineties concert at Staples Center, Los Angeles on New Year's Eve, 1999. They shared the stage with their long time friends, Jackson Browne and Linda Rondstadt.

Even though they had smoothed out many old arguments, dissention once again split the Eagles. Guitarist Don Felder filed a lawsuit against his former bandmates, Don Henley and Glenn Frey, claiming that he was wrongfully dismissed from the group in early 2001. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on February 9th, reportedly sought the dissolution of Eagles Ltd., the band's corporation, as well as an accounting of record royalties, touring revenue and merchandising since Felder joined the band in 1974.

In early 2002, the remaining Eagles, Don Henley, Glen Frey, Joe Walsh and Timmothy B. Schmitt were back in the recording studio working on a new album.

The Eagles have sold more than 83 million albums worldwide, earning five No. 1 albums and five No. 1 singles. They sold more albums in the 1970s than any other American band. Their "Greatest Hits 1971-1975" is the largest selling album of all time in the U.S. (more than 27 million copies, ahead of Michael Jackson's "Thriller", at 25 million) and was the first album ever to receive platinum certification.

The Eagles' "Greatest Hits, Volume II" received the Recording Industry Association of America's Diamond Award in March 2001, marking sales of more than ten million copies. It is their third album to reach "Diamond" status, along with Greatest Hits 1971-1975 and Hotel California. The new round of certifications pushed the Eagles' to the third highest certified band, behind only the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, and the fifth highest certified artist of all time. "The Eagles are the epitome of rock music," said RIAA president and CEO Hilary Rosen. "The accomplishment of selling more than 83 million records over their career is monumental."

The band continued to tour and in November, 2004, recorded their show in Melbourne, Australia for a DVD release titled "Farewell 1 Tour - Live From Melbourne". Footage from that night was part of a 2-hour TV special on NBC, shown in the US on June 1st, 2005. The band played all of their hits backed by an eight-piece backup band that included new lead guitarist Steuart Smith. Over the Summer of '05, Don Henley played a series of shows with Stevie Nicks, after which The Eagles went out on a mini-tour of California, where they filled arenas in Los Angeles for twelve straight dates -- a first in arena-rock history.

The Eagles Single Releases:

Take It Easy - released May 1, 1972
Witchy Woman - released August 1, 1972
Peaceful Easy Feeling - released December 1, 1972
Tequila Sunrise - released April 17, 1973
Outlaw Man- released August 6, 1973
Already Gone - released April 19, 1974
James Dean - Released August 14, 1974
Best of My Love - released November 5, 1974
One of These Nights - released May 19, 1975
Lyin' Eyes - released September 7, 1975
Take It to the Limit - released November 15, 1975
New Kid in Town - released December 7, 1976
Hotel California - released February 22, 1977
Life in the Fast Lane - released May 3, 1977
Please Come Home for Christmas - released November 27, 1978
Heartache Tonight - released September 18, 1979
The Long Run released November 27,1979
I Can't Tell You Why - released February 4, 1980
Seven Bridges Road released December 15, 1980
Get Over It released November 1994
Learn To Be Still - released 1995
Love Will Keep Us Alive - released 1995