![\"Don](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Don-Felder-2023-The-Eagles-Guitarist-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n
Mon 22 September 2025 19:00, UK <\/p>\n
It\u2019s painfully well documented that the original 1970s run of the Eagles<\/a> did not end under the rosiest of circumstances. <\/p>\n Their contentious collapse, in fact, is what inspired Don Henley to claim that he wouldn\u2019t play with the band again unless \u201chell froze over\u201d, a geological phenomenon that apparently takes about 14 years, considering the Eagles did eventually reform for the obligatory tour and cash grab in 1994.\u00a0<\/p>\n Seven years into the \u201csecond age\u201d of the Eagles, however, another storm was brewing, and this time, it led not to a break-up of the band, but the firing of one of its longstanding members, guitarist Don Felder.<\/p>\n \u201cOriginally when I joined the band, it was a five-piece,\u201d Felder told reporter Dan Rather in a 2019 interview for AXS TV.<\/a> \u201cEverybody was part of this corporation called Eagles Limited. We all owned Eagles Limited. We shared equally on the gross and the tours and everything like that, the record sales. But when we got back together [in 1994], Don [Henley] and Glenn [Frey] felt that they should get a much larger share.\u201d<\/p>\n Felder wasn\u2019t completely stunned by this development. He\u2019d been paying attention during the 1980s and early \u201890s, as Henley and Frey had enjoyed some measure of extended success in their solo careers, while his own profile had faded considerably in the public consciousness. Still, if \u201cEagles Ltd\u201d was still a concept, Felder held out hope that a more diplomatic discussion on finances might unfold after a while; that the star power of the band\u2019s two biggest names might not matter much as the renewed brotherhood amongst the old gang.<\/p>\n \u201cBut when renegotiations came around,\u201d Felder told Rather, \u201cthere were no renegotiations. It just stood as it was. And so it kind of constantly rubbed on me through the course of that \u2018Hell Freezes Over\u2019 tour.\u201d<\/p>\n Felder claimed that he was calm and patient, returning to the topic over the next few years and being greeted with a dismissive \u201cno\u201d every time.<\/p>\n \u201cSo finally, I don\u2019t know who sent who a legal notice or whatnot, but it just came down that there was another \u2018no\u2019 and \u2018you\u2019re fired.\u2019 So that\u2019s the way that happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Henley and Frey had their own perspectives, of course, and the word on the grapevine was that Felder simply wasn\u2019t worth the trouble. He was always a skilled musician<\/a>, but he wasn\u2019t perceived to be part of the central Eagles braintrust creatively, and thus was not considered a rightful claimant to an equal portion of the band\u2019s substantial earnings.<\/p>\n