The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California during the early 1970s. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful recording artists of the decade. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 and Hotel California, ranked among the ten best-selling albums according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The best-selling studio album Hotel California is rated as the thirty-seventh album in the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and the band was ranked number 75 on the magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. They also have the best selling album in the U.S. to date with Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975.

The Eagles broke up in 1980, but reunited in 1994 for Hell Freezes Over, a mix of live and new studio tracks. They have toured intermittently since then, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

In 2007, the Eagles released Long Road out of Eden, their first full studio album in 28 years.

Formation

The seeds for the Eagles were planted when Linda Ronstadt's then-manager John Boylan recruited session musicians Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner to back Ronstadt. They were missing a drummer until Frey telephoned Don Henley, whom he had met at the Troubadour club in Los Angeles. The group auditioned for Ronstadt; she approved and the band backed her on a two-month tour and on her self-titled 1972 album. After their tenure with Ronstadt and with her encouragement, they decided to form their own band, signing with Asylum Records, the new label started by David Geffen. Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts also initially managed the band. The group chose the name Eagles as a nod to The Byrds (Leadon had been in Dillard & Clark with former Byrds singer Gene Clark and in The Flying Burrito Brothers with former Byrds Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke).

Eagles

The group's self-titled debut album was quickly recorded and released in June 1972. Eagles was filled with natural, sometimes innocent country rock, and yielded three Top 40 singles. The first single and lead track, "Take It Easy", was a song written by Glenn Frey and his neighbor and fellow country-folk rocker Jackson Browne. Frey heard Browne recording it, contributed two lines to it (for which he got co-writing credit) and asked if the Eagles could use it.Fact: date=August 2008 The song reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and propelled the Eagles to stardom. The single was followed by the bluesy "Witchy Woman" and the soft country rock ballad "Peaceful Easy Feeling", charting at No. 9 and No. 22 respectively. The Eagles were a major force in popularizing the Southern California country rock sound around the nation. Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" ranked Eagles at number 374.