Joe Walsh

American guitarist, singer, and songwriter Joe Walsh was born Joseph Woodward Fidler on November 20, 1947 in Wichita, Kansas. His father, Lt. Robert Newton Fidler, was a pilot for the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star in the United States Air Force and died in a plane crash in Okinawa on July 22, 1949. Walsh’s mother, Helen, was a classically trained pianist of Scottish and German ancestry.

Walsh was adopted by his stepfather at the age of five and given his stepfather’s surname. Walsh and his family lived in Columbus, Ohio, for a number of years during his youth. When he was twelve, his family moved to New York City. Later, Walsh moved to Montclair, New Jersey and attended Montclair High School, where he played oboe in the school band.

Walsh acquired his first guitar at the age of 10, and upon learning the Ventures’ ‘Walk Don’t Run’, decided that he wanted to pursue a career as a guitarist. Inspired by the success of The Beatles, he replaced Bruce Hoffman as the bass player in the locally popular group the Nomads in Madison, New Jersey, beginning his career as a rock musician.

After high school, Walsh briefly attended Kent State University. Walsh was present during the Kent State massacre in 1970. He spent time in various bands playing around the Cleveland, Ohio, area, including the garage bar band The Measles.

In late 1967, James Gang guitarist Glenn Schwartz, (who turned out to be AWOL from the army and was breaking up with his wife), decided to leave the band to move to California, Walsh, a friend of Schwartz’s, asked to be given a tryout as his replacement. Walsh was accepted.

The James Gang had several minor hits (including ‘Funk #49’) and became an early album-oriented rock staple for the next two years. It was during 1969 that Walsh sold his Les Paul Guitar to Jimmy Page.

In 1970, Walsh gave a 1959 Gretsch 6120 to the Who’s lead guitarist Pete Townshend. He used the Gretsch in the studio to record tracks on albums such as Who’s Next and Quadrophenia

In December 1971, after Walsh left the James Gang, Steve Marriott, frontman guitarist of Humble Pie, and previously a member of Small Faces invited Joe to move to England and join his band, which Peter Frampton had left, but Walsh declined. Instead, he moved to Colorado and formed Barnstorm, with drummer and multi-instrumentalist Joe Vitale, and bassist Kenny Passarelli.

Walsh and Barnstorm released their debut album, the eponymous Barnstorm, in October 1972. The follow-up, The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get, released in June 1973, was marketed under Walsh’s name and was their commercial breakthrough. It peaked at No. 6 on the US Billboard chart. The first and leading single, ‘Rocky Mountain Way’, received heavy airplay and reached No. 23 on the US Top 40 chart.

In late 1974, Walsh played slide guitar on Vitale’s debut solo album Roller Coaster Weekend. Walsh was taught the slide technique by Duane Allman, who played on Eric Clapton‘s Layla of Derek and the Dominos.

In December 1974, Walsh released his first solo album that was not considered a Barnstorm project, So What, which contained more introspective material such as ‘Help Me Through the Night’ and “Song for Emma”, a tribute to Walsh’s daughter who had been killed in a car accident that April. Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Randy Meisner of the Eagles contributed backing vocals on some tracks.

In 1975, Walsh was invited to join the Eagles as founding member Bernie Leadon’s replacement. There was some initial concern as to Walsh’s ability to fit in with the band, as he was considered far too “wild” for the Eagles, especially by their drummer and vocalist, Don Henley. Released on December 8, 1976, Hotel California was the band’s fifth studio album and the first to feature Walsh.

The second single from the album was the eponymous title track, which topped the charts in May 1977 and became one of the Eagles’ signature songs. It features Henley on lead vocals, with a guitar duet performed by Felder and Walsh. Its long guitar coda was voted the best guitar solo of all time by readers of Guitarist and the song was awarded the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1978.

The Eagles went into the recording studio in 1977 to begin work on their next album, The Long Run. The album took two years to complete. The Long Run was released on September 24, 1979. Considered a disappointment by some music critics for failing to live up to Hotel California, it proved a huge commercial hit nonetheless; the album topped the charts and sold 7 million copies.

Following the breakup of the Eagles in July 1980, Walsh continued to release solo albums throughout the 1980s, (Walsh has released twelve solo studio albums to date).

After the Eagles disbanded, Walsh entered a period in which his drug and alcohol consumption reached dangerous levels. He even entered a relationship with Fleetwood Mac frontwoman Stevie Nicks where, as she recalled, they did “way too much drugs” before ultimately breaking up.

His fourth studio album But Seriously, Folks… released in mid-1978, includes the satirical song ‘Life’s Been Good’. The original 8:04 album version of this track was edited down to 4:35 for single release and became Walsh’s biggest solo hit, peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Walsh was a member of the short-lived supergroup The Best with Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers), John Entwistle (The Who), Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), Simon Phillips (Judas Priest, The Who, Toto, etc.) and session musician Rick Livingstone. The band played a series of dates in Japan in September 1990, and they specialised in covers of tracks from the bands that made each instrumentalist famous.

Walsh had often joked about running for office, announcing a mock presidential campaign in 1980 and a vice presidential campaign in 1992. Walsh ran for President of the United States in 1980, promising to make ‘Life’s Been Good’ the new national anthem if he won.

The guitarist admits to struggling with alcohol and drug addictions for most of his early career and has been in recovery since 1993.

In 1994, after a 14-year hiatus and several solo albums, The Eagles released Hell Freezes Over, which reached number 1 on the Billboard charts and sparked one of the most successful tours in music history.

In 1998 The Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the first year they were nominated. Walsh performed at the 2012 Grammy’s with Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl and at the 2012 MusiCares event honouring Paul McCartney.

Walsh has been married five times. He married Marjorie Bach (sister of Barbara Bach and sister-in-law of Ringo Starr) in Los Angeles on December 13, 2008.