Eagles Formation and early releases: 1971–73

Formation and early releases: 1971–73

The Eagles began in early 1971, when Linda Ronstadt and then-manager John Boylan recruited local musicians Glenn Frey and Don Henley for her band.[5] Henley had moved to Los Angeles from Texas with his band Shiloh (produced by Kenny Rogers),[6] and Frey had come from Michigan and formed Longbranch Pennywhistle; they had met in 1970 at The Troubadour in Los Angeles and became acquainted through their mutual record label, Amos Records.[7][8] Randy Meisner, who had been working with Ricky Nelson's backing band, the Stone Canyon Band, and Bernie Leadon, a veteran of the Flying Burrito Brothers, joined Ronstadt's group of performers for her summer tour promoting the Silk Purse album.[5][9]

These four played live together behind Ronstadt only once for a July concert at Disneyland,[5] but all four appeared on her eponymous album.[10] With Ronstadt's blessing, Henley and Frey asked Leadon and Meisner to form a band and they soon signed with Asylum Records, the new label started by David Geffen.[11] The name of the band was first suggested by Leadon during a peyote and tequila-influenced group outing in the Mojave Desert, when he recalled reading about the Hopis' reverence for the eagle.[12] Steve Martin, a friend of the band from their early days at The Troubadour, recounts in his autobiography that he suggested that they should be referred to as "the Eagles", but Frey insists that the group's name is simply "Eagles".[13] Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts initially managed the band; they were later replaced by Irving Azoff.

Eagles ( Band ) Profile

The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971 by Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner. With five number-one singles, six Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, and six number one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and Hotel California, were ranked among the 20 best-selling albums in the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Hotel California is ranked 37th in Rolling Stone‍ '​s list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and the band was ranked number 75 on the magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[2]

The Eagles are one of the world's best-selling bands of all time, having sold more than 150 million records[3]—100 million in the U.S. alone—including 42 million copies of Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and 32 million copies of Hotel California. "Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975)" was the best selling album of the 20th century in the U.S.[4] They are the fifth-highest-selling music act and the highest-selling American band in U.S. history.