Don Henley is a legendary figure in rock music, best known as a founding member of the American music band Eagles, one of the most successful bands of all time, and as well as an influential solo artist.
On August 13, 1982, as a solo artist, Don Henley released his debut album, I Can’t Stand Still, via Asylum Records, which hit number 24 on the US Billboard 200 chart. At the beginning of 1983, the single Dirty Laundry from the album hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a Gold-certified single for sales of over a million copies in the US. It was Henley’s all-time biggest solo hit single that was also nominated for a Grammy Award. Dirty Laundry proves that Henley has a voice that just cannot be matched. The song is a standout from his singles. The lyrics of the track is as enticing as Henley’s vocal track. Dirty Laundry enjoyed the mass media boom of the 1980s and has received the sensationalism in news reporting.
Henley’s breakthrough solo song continued the modern New Wave music. His second album is 1984’s Building The Perfect Beast. The album yielded four hit singles, garnered five Grammy nominations, and won the award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, male for its song The Boys Of Summer. The song itself hit number five on the Hot 100. The Boys Of Summer is one of Don Henley’s finest singles and his vocal performance in this song is on another level. The single was released as the lead single from the album Building The Perfect Beast. The album also featured the Top 10 single All She Wants To Do Is Dance, which hit number nine on the Hot 100.
Don Henley has released five studio albums, two compilation albums, and 27 solo singles. He sold over 12,136,390 copies of his albums, including 11,500,000 in the US and 280,000 in the UK. Henley’s best-selling album The End of the Innocence had sold over 6,311,670 copies. As a solo artist, Henley had eight top 40 singles, won two Grammy Awards, and five MTV Video Music Awards. Combined with the Eagles, Henley has released 25 Top 40 singles on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Henley’s third studio album The End Of The Innocence was released in 1989. This was his first solo Top 10 album on the Billboard 200. The album gave three hits, including the title track, and brought Henley another Best Rock Vocal Grammy Award. This is his best-selling album to date, certified six-times Platinum in the US.
Don Henley released his fourth studio album, Inside Job, on May 23, 2000, via Warner Bros. Records. No single from this album made the Top 40 of the Hot 100. However, the single from the album Taking You Home hit number one on the US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. His most recent album, Cass County, was released in 2015.
Don Henley was born on July 22, 1947, in Gilmer, Texas, US and was raised in a small East Texas town. He was drawn to exotic music broadcast from distant radio stations in New Orleans and Nashville in the US and Ciudad Acuna in Mexico. These stations introduced him to the blues, bluegrass, gospel, jazz, and rock and roll, paving the path for his future as a musician. Henley’s music conceives rock, country rock, hard rock, pop rock, soft rock, and folk rock.
Don Henley has a voice as smooth as silk. As a solo artist and as a member of Eagles, his vocal excellence has made countless songs even better. Henley is also celebrated as an extraordinary adept songwriter. His lyrics capture powerful emotional feelings and the mood of a special moment in time.
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According to many, Don Henley is one of the greatest singing drummers of all time. Henley plays drums and sings simultaneously on some Eagles songs in live concerts. He also plays electric guitar and simultaneously sings or just sings solo on his solo songs and other Eagles songs. Like most drummer songwriters, Henley also plays guitar and keyboards.
Glenn Lewis Frey and Don Henley formed The Eagles in the fall of 1971. The group pioneered a brand-new American style of popular music, blending country and folk with standard pop. The band sold worldwide more than 150 million albums, won four Grammies, and top the album charts five times, making them one of the best-selling music acts in history. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and continues to perform sell-out concerts all over the world.
In part because of Don Henley’s stunning vocals that the single Life In The Fast Lane from the legendary 1977 Eagles album Hotel California hit no. 11 on the Hot 100. Henley’s voice on another Eagles classic, the 1973 single Desperado, is incredible. He only had five takes to record the song. Very few can capture the spirit of the Wild West quite like Henley with just his voice alone.
Throughout his career, Don Henley has pursued an extraordinary commitment to music and to various philanthropic efforts, mostly related to environmental issues and artists’ rights. He has received countless accolades, numerous gold and platinum records, and performed sold-out concert tours worldwide.
In 1990, Henley founded The Walden Woods Project, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to protecting the historic woods in Massachusetts. Henley also founded the Caddo Lake Institute (CLI) in his native East Texas in 1992. The CLI is also a non-profit scientific and educational organization with the mission of protecting the unique treasure that is Caddo Lake.
Don Henley Discography
- I Can’t Stand Still (1982)
- Building the Perfect Beast (1984)
- The End of the Innocence (1989)
- Inside Job (2000)
- Cass County (2015)
- Actual Miles: Henley’s Greatest Hits (1995)
- The Very Best of Don Henley
List of Don Henley’s Singles
- Johnny Can’t Read (1982)
- Dirty Laundry (1982)
- You Better Hang Up (1982)
- I Can’t Stand Still (1983)
- The Unclouded Day (1983)
- The Boys of Summer (1984)
- All She Wants to Do Is Dance (1985)
- Not Enough Love in the World (1985)
- Sunset Grill (1985)
- Drivin’ With Your Eyes Closed (1985)
- The End of the Innocence (1989)
- The Last Worthless Evening (1989)
- I Will Not Go Quietly (1989)
- If Dirt Were Dollars (1989)
- The Heart of the Matter (1990)
- How Bad Do You Want It? (1990)
- New York Minute (1990)
- The Garden of Allah (1995)
- Everybody Knows (1995)
- You Don’t Know Me at All (1996)
- The Boys of Summer (1998)
- Workin’ It (2000)
- Taking You Home (2000)
- Everything Is Different Now (2000)
- For My Wedding (2000)
- Take a Picture of This (2015)
- Who Owns This Place? (1986)
- Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat (1993)
- Through Your Hands (1996)