Los Angeles — John David “JD” Souther, a prolific songwriter and performer who helped establish the country-rock style that emerged in Southern California in the 1970s through collaborations with the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt, died at the age of 78.
Souther, who co-wrote some of the Eagles’ most famous songs, including “Best of My Love,” “James Dean,” “New Kid in Town,” and “Heartache Tonight,” died on Tuesday at his home in New Mexico, according to a post on his website.
He has also collaborated with James Taylor, Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt, and many others, and has achieved success as a solo artist. He was scheduled to begin a tour with Karla Bonoff on September 24 in Phoenix, which has now been canceled.
JD Souther, Who Penned ‘Heartache Tonight’ And Other Eagles Hits, Dies At 78
When Souther was elected into the Composers Hall of Fame in 2013, he was dubbed “a principal architect of the Southern California sound and a major influence on a generation of songwriters.” He was also at the center of the social scene, with girlfriends including Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, and Stevie Nicks, who described him in a 1982 interview with High Times magazine as “very, very, very male chauvinistic and very sweet, cute, wonderful but very Texas.”
Souther was born in Detroit and raised in Amarillo, Texas. He traveled to Los Angeles in the late 1960s, where he met fellow Michigan native Glenn Frey, the Eagles’ founding member and guitarist. The two formed a long-term partnership, beginning with a band named Longbranch Pennywhistle. Frey credited Souther with introducing him to country music.
“Our first year together will always seem like yesterday to me,” Souther said in a statement following Frey’s death in 2016. “His remarkable ability to tell a great joke and that brilliant groove that lived inside him are with me even now, amid this loss and pain. “The music and love are indestructible.”
Souther was so close to the Eagles that he appeared on the back cover of their 1973 album “Desperado,” which depicted Souther and others reenacting the capture of the famed Dalton Gang. He recalled his first encounter with Frey at The Troubadour, a prominent West Hollywood music club, as “the best study in songwriting I can imagine.”
“So many great songwriters came through — Laura Nyro, Kris Kristofferson, Randy Newman, Elton John, James Taylor, Tim Hardin, Carole King, Rick Nelson, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Waylon Jennings, Tim Buckley, Gordon Lightfoot, Taj Mahal and more,” according to a statement posted on his website. “It seems impossible to conceive that much music in just a year and a half, but that was my life, and the Troubadour was our university.
“It’s also where I met Linda Ronstadt and where Don Henley and Glenn Frey met to form this little country rock band called Eagles that would go on to make musical history,” Souther later recalled.
Souther made his solo debut in 1972, before establishing The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band with former Byrds member Chris Hillman and Poco’s Richie Furay. In 1976, he released Black Rose, his second solo album, which featured a duet with Ronstadt, his one-time girlfriend, called “If You Have Crying Eyes.” Other duets he’d recorded with her included “Prisoner in Disguise,” “Sometimes You Can’t Win,” and “Hearts Against the Wind,” the latter of which appeared in the 1980 film “Urban Cowboy.”
JD Souther, Who Penned ‘Heartache Tonight’ And Other Eagles Hits, Dies At 78
His biggest solo hit was “You’re Only Lonely,” which appeared on the same-titled 1979 album.
He also composed the songs “Run Like a Thief” for Bonnie Raitt, as well as “Faithless Love” and “White Rhythm and Blues” for Ronstadt. He collaborated and sung with James Taylor on the song “Her Town Too.”
He has acted in television shows such as “thirtysomething,” “Nashville,” and “Purgatory,” as well as films including “Postcards from the Edge,” “My Girl 2,” and “Deadline.”
SOURCE | AP
