LOS ANGELES (AP) — John David “JD” Souther, a prolific songwriter and musician who helped form the country-rock sound that took root in Southern California within the Seventies along with his collaborations with the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt, has died on the age of 78.
Souther, who collaborated on among the Eagles’ greatest hits, corresponding to “Better of My Love,” “James Dean,” “New Child in City,” and “Heartache Tonight,” died Tuesday at his dwelling in New Mexico, based on an announcement on his web site.
He additionally collaborated with James Taylor, Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt and plenty of extra, and in addition discovered success as a solo artist. He was about to begin a tour with Karla Bonoff on Sept. 24 in Phoenix, now canceled.
When he was inducted into the Songwriters Corridor of Fame in 2013, Souther was described as “a principal architect of the Southern California sound and a significant affect on a technology of songwriters.”
Souther was born in Detroit and grew up in Amarillo, Texas. He moved to Los Angeles within the late Nineteen Sixties, the place he met Glenn Frey, a founding member and guitarist of the Eagles. The 2 started a longtime partnership, beginning with a band referred to as Longbranch Pennywhistle.
“Our first 12 months collectively will at all times look like yesterday to me,” Souther stated in a press release after Frey died in 2016. “His superb capability for the large joke and that sensible groove that lived inside him are with me, even now, on this loss and sorrow. … The music and the love are indestructible.”
Souther described his begin with Frey at The Troubadadour, the favored West Hollywood music membership, as “the perfect research in songwriting I can think about.”
“So many nice songwriters got here by — Laura Nyro, Kris Kristofferson, Randy Newman, Elton John, James Taylor, Tim Hardin, Carole King, Rick Nelson, Joni Mitchell, Neil Younger, Waylon Jennings, Tim Buckley, Gordon Lightfoot, Taj Mahal and extra,” he stated in a press release on his web site. “It appears unattainable now to think about that a lot music in a 12 months and a half or so, however that was my life and the Troubadour was our college.
“It’s additionally the place I met Linda Ronstadt and the place Don Henley and Glenn Frey met to kind this little nation rock band referred to as Eagles that may go on to make musical historical past,” Souther wrote.
On his personal, Souther recorded his self-titled debut in 1972 earlier than forming The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band with former Byrds member Chris Hillman and Poco’s Richie Furay. A second solo effort in 1976, Black Rose, included a duet with Ronstadt, his one-time girlfriend, “If You Have Crying Eyes.” Different duets he had recorded together with her embody “Prisoner in Disguise,” “Generally You Can’t Win” and “Hearts In opposition to the Wind,” the latter featured within the 1980 movie “City Cowboy.”
His greatest hit as a solo artist was “You’re Solely Lonely,” from the 1979 album of the identical title.
Different songs he wrote embody “Run Like a Thief,” for Bonnie Raitt, and “Faithless Love” and “White Rhythm and Blues” for Ronstadt. He collaborated with James Taylor on “Her City Too.”
Among the many artists he labored with as a singer have been Don Henley, Christopher Cross, Dan Fogelberg and Roy Orbison.
He appeared as an actor on tv in “thirtysomething,” “Nashville” and “Purgatory” and within the movies “Postcards from the Edge,” “My Lady 2,” and “Deadline.”
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