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JD Souther, the singer, songwriter and actor who co-wrote among the greatest hits of the Eagles, like “New Child in City” and “Better of My Love,” and had an extended solo profession that included the highest 10 hit “You’re Solely Lonely,” died Tuesday at age 78. No reason for dying was given however he was described by reps at Solters PR as dying peacefully at dwelling in New Mexico.
Souther was about to exit for joint live performance dates this fall with Karla Bonoff, one other veteran of the Nineteen Seventies Southern California singer-songwriter scene, and had carried out as not too long ago as 5 days in the past.
Apart from “New Child” and “Better of My Love,” different compositions co-written by Souther that appeared on Eagles albums included “Heartache Tonight,” “Sufferer of Love,” “James Dean,” “Doolin-Dalton,” “The Unhappy Cafe,” “You By no means Cry Like a Lover,” “Teenage Jail” and “Final Good Time in City.” He was the only author of “How Lengthy,” a canopy the Eagles launched in 2007 of a track Souther had first put out as a solo artist in 1972. His friendship with Don Henley prolonged to co-writing that artist’s basic “The Coronary heart of the Matter” and several other different tracks on Henley’s solo albums.
Though Souther’s solo profession didn’t attain something close to the favored crests of the work he wrote for or had carried out by prime artists of the day, Souther did attain the highest 10 of the Billboard Scorching 100 in 1979 with the Roy Orbison-esque “You’re Solely Lonely,” a ballad that additionally held the No. 1 spot on the grownup up to date chart for 5 weeks. He simply missed making the highest 10 once more when the 1981 single “Her City Too” — a duet with James Taylor — peaked at No. 11 on the Scorching 100 (it reached No. 5 at AC).
Past his work with the Eagles, he was additionally intently related to the discography of Linda Ronstadt, whom he dated within the Nineteen Seventies, with the tracks she recorded together with “Prisoner in Disguise” and “Faithless Love.” He additionally had songs recorded by the Dixie Chicks, George Strait and Bonnie Raitt.
“There was positively a time frame the place individuals would often say to me, ‘Doesn’t it piss you off that the Eagles have these huge hits off your songs?’ I might normally begin saying, ‘Would you wish to see the checks?’” Souther mentioned in an interview with the Inventive Unbiased. “Pissed off? How may I be pissed off? Even Glenn Frey as soon as mentioned — and he was sort of joking as a result of he is aware of how the royalty factor works — however he mentioned, ‘One of many causes JD didn’t have a much bigger solo profession is as a result of he gave us or Linda Ronstadt most of his greatest songs.’ And that’s kind of true. The closest I obtained to being actually well-known was through the ‘You’re Solely Lonely’ interval, and I actually didn’t prefer it that a lot, frankly. It’s a aid in some methods, although it additionally doesn’t pay fairly as properly.”
Souther loved an sudden profession as an actor in tv and movie, beginning with a task on the prime-time sequence “Thirtysomething” in 1989. He subsequently was greatest recognized for showing on the primary season of “Nashville” in 2012, along with his different elements together with small roles within the movies “Postcards From the Edge,” “At all times,” “Purgatory,” “Deadline” and “My Woman 2.”
“The performing stuff got here as a result of somebody requested me,” he mentioned in an interview with Acoustic Storm. “I acted once I was a child… in highschool and faculty. I by no means considered it a lot in L.A., though anyone who likes motion pictures fantasizes about being in them. However nice individuals requested me to be of their motion pictures. Steven Spielberg requested me to be in a film, Ed Zwick requested me to do that arc of episodes on ‘Thirtysomething’ and Mike Nichols requested me to be in ‘Postcards From the Edge.’ There’s completely no motive to say no to individuals of that high quality after they ask you to be of their movies. I had an agent, however I don’t know that I actually learn for any of these roles. I’ll have learn for the one in ‘Thirtysomething,’ though I believe Ed simply needed me to do it. I believe I learn a web page or two. I left after which my agent known as and he or she requested me how I did. I mentioned, ‘I sucked, it was horrible.’ She mentioned, ‘That’s humorous, as a result of simply you bought the half.’ A lot for self-evaluation.”
Souther was inducted into the Songwriters Corridor of Fame in 2013.
His collaborations with the Eagles adopted a short-lived band that Souther was truly in with Glenn Frey, Longbranch Pennywhistle, which launched one self-titled album in 1969, which Souther didn’t maintain in excessive regard.
As a solo recording artist, he was not prolific, however he began out with a burst of albums as a part of David Geffen’s Asylum Information steady — beginning with 1972’s “John David Souther,” the debut LP that included the longer term Eagles reduce “How Lengthy.” That was the final time he glided by his full title, preferring thereafter to make use of initials, saying, “It began with me handing over songs as JD Souther in ’71. I had seen the J.S. Bach music, first in books after which on the British Museum, and as there was no larger music for me to aspire to. I adopted the abbreviation.”
One interruption in his early solo profession got here when he, Chris Hillman and Richie Furay have been corralled to type a supergroup, the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, which fell aside after two mid-’70s albums went virtually immediately to the cutout bins.
In an interview within the 2010s with this author, Souther spoke about how he turned a kind of icon of country-rock — mockingly, to him, since he had grown up listening to jazz, classical and something however nation. “We have been all very a lot within the sway of the interface between rock ‘n’ roll and nation music on the time. Within the late ‘60s, early ‘70s, all people was listening to Buck Owens and Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. The group of men that have been earlier than me — CSN, the Byrds, Dillard and Clark, Poco, the Burrito Brothers and all these guys — had fairly properly built-in rock ‘&’n’ roll and nation music into this actually formidable sound. Linda and I have been collectively, and he or she performed me plenty of nation music that I had by no means heard earlier than. In reality, I simply realized that there’s one little factor I do with my voice on the finish of strains, and it sort of irritates me that I simply can’t appear to assist doing it. I used to be pondering it was one thing left over from what we have been doing within the ‘70s, however I noticed it’s one thing I heard on a Louvin Brothers report, and it simply caught, someplace in my muscle reminiscence. My voice simply does that—slightly tiny ghost of a yodel on the finish of some strains. I by no means imply to do it, however it gained’t go away!”
Of the scene on the time, he informed this author, “The truth that the music we made was thought-about to be its personal style — Southern California rock or no matter — wasn’t intentional. To start with, as a result of there have been no true southern Californians in that group besides Jackson Browne, and he was from Orange County. Glenn is from Detroit, Henley’s from Texas, I’m from Texas, Linda’s from Arizona, Waddy (Wachtel) was from New York, Kooch (Danny Kortchmar) was from New York, James (Taylor) was from outdoors Boston, and Warren Zevon was from Mars. It was a extremely extremely numerous bunch of those who moved there from all over the place else. The frequent denominator is that we have been all hungry on the similar time. We have been all taking part in these open-mic nights on the Troubadour, hoot nights, and we turned buddies and had an actual shared ethic about music being good, and about its being good being extra necessary than it being briefly well-liked. We tried to put in writing songs that we felt would final a very long time. Not less than that was my motivation.
“There was nothing flippant about what any of us have been writing,” he continued. “The group that was hanging out was Don and Glenn and Jackson and Zevon and me and Linda — who, regardless that she didn’t write, performed an enormous half in that, as a result of she was such a superb ear. She actually selected one of the best of all of our songs to report. She’s simply good as a whip and had an awesome ear for songs and for what she may sing. And Judee Sill, who doesn’t get talked about a lot, as a result of she by no means bought plenty of data and he or she died some time in the past, however she was very a lot in my group of buddies, too. All these individuals have been simply actually severe about music. There was some pleasant competitors about it, regardless that we have been all positively on one another’s facet. All people needed to indicate up with one thing that made all the remainder of us go, ‘Wow! I want I had considered that.’”
Because the ill-fated Souther-Hillman-Furay Band wound down, he resumed solo work for Asylum with the 1976 album “Black Rose,” then moved to Columbia for 1979’s “You’re Solely Lonely” and 1984’s “Residence by Daybreak.”
Following that, he took a 24-year launch from record-making, preferring life within the dwelling he had constructed for himself within the Hollywood Hills, and ski journeys to New England or retreats in Japan, to persevering with to work within the music trade. “It was paradise. Life was as peaceable as I had recognized it since I used to be a baby in Wellington, Texas, however I knew I must return to work someday.”
He lastly returned to creating data in 2008 with “If the World Was You,” an album recorded with a jazz ensemble. He adopted it up in 2011 with “Pure Historical past,” a launch made up principally of his personal new recordings of songs that had been hits for the Eagles and Ronstadt. “Tenderness,” a set of all-new materials, adopted in 2015. It was his remaining album launch, although he continued to tour within the following years, up till his dying.
In a 2018 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Souther mentioned that he was nonetheless pleasant with most of his celebrity collaborators. “I’m very near (Ronstadt). I’m nonetheless very near Jackson (Browne); I discuss to him on a regular basis,” he informed the newspaper. “Don and I preserve sending one another the identical foolish emails we at all times have. In all probability the individual I noticed the least of the previous couple of years, to my remorse, was Glenn. It hit us all very laborious that he died. I used to be his first companion, he was my first songwriting companion and greatest buddy. Once we have been simply infants we did plenty of actually loopy stuff for no cash, only for anybody who would allow us to play.”
He mentioned that he’d practically turn out to be a member of the Eagles when the group was being shaped, however was the primary to appreciate his inclusion wouldn’t work after one tryout with him within the lineup. “I believe I used to be within the band for at some point. David Geffen thought it that may be ‘4 songwriters, good; 5 songwriters higher.’ So we put collectively a set and performed it on the Troubadour within the afternoon for the administration crew. I simply bear in mind them trying down the entrance line and seeing 4 of us bashing away at stringed devices. And, to be frank, they didn’t want me. They have been a superbly well-rounded, self-contained band. I figured we have been going to maintain writing collectively anyway, so I believe all of us obtained one of the best of that state of affairs, the absolute best end result. Frankly, once I mentioned, ‘No, I don’t suppose I actually need to be within the band,’ I’ve by no means seen 4 guys extra relieved. I believe they have been extra delighted than I used to be.”
Souther mentioned that there was no strict division of duties when he co-wrote with Frey and Henley. “Often all three of us are writing all lyrics and music,” he informed Acoustic Storm in an interview. “’New Child in City’ might be a bit totally different as a result of I had the refrain executed for nearly a 12 months earlier than I confirmed it to Glenn and Don. … It’s at all times a joint effort. I can’t communicate for them, however as a lot music as I had in my background, it was principally jazz and orchestral music. I wasn’t uncovered to nation music till I used to be virtually grown.” Though he admitted he typically most popular to put in writing by himself, he was greater than keen to make an exception for these all-stars. “(Writing as a crew) speeds issues up so much,” he mentioned. “Whenever you’re writing with good writers like Jackson or Warren Zevon or Don and Glenn, you’re so vital of one another that you just don’t let something go that doesn’t really feel prefer it’s A+.”
In a dialog with the Inventive Unbiased, Souther — who had moved to Nashville — mentioned, “Glenn Frey had been residing in New York for a couple of years when he died. And Don Henley lives in Texas and Linda lives in San Francisco. We’re all kind of unfold out to the far corners anyway. However sure, that time frame was in all probability distinctive. Now, I preserve assembly younger musicians who will say to me, ‘God, I want I lived in California within the ’70s, it should have been so cool.’ To us, it was simply on a regular basis life. Additionally, we have been all fairly fiercely aggressive, significantly Frey and Henley and myself.”
His closeness with Ronstadt lasted via the years. When he was releasing his remaining album in 2015, he informed the Arizona Republic, “She’s at all times the primary to listen to a brand new album. She’s the best listener: an astute, well-read girl, in addition to musical… She’s a really considerate individual, spontaneous and humorous… Each time I hear Linda Ronstadt’s voice with my phrases and melodies, I simply soften. It was a privilege to be her painter and in addition her musical companion.”
Souther dated not solely Ronstadt however Stevie Nicks and Judee Sill, who was mentioned to have written “Jesus Is a Crossmaker” about him. However he was not up for revealing an excessive amount of about how these relationships or others affected his lyrics, although he did concede his remaining 2015 album mirrored his divorce. “Faulkner mentioned all fiction is autobiographical. However I wouldn’t let you know what,” he mentioned. “I don’t speak about my private life anyway. There’s a really skinny line between my life and fiction, however I’m not going to be one to say the place it’s.”
He was snug along with his stage of renown. Henley, he mentioned, is “being paid rather well to be on the street in Europe with the Eagles, and I’m being paid much less properly to sit down right here on my farm and watch my canine run round within the area. However I don’t know the way I might cope with it the opposite means round. I at all times attempt to be grateful. My father was very insistent on having good manners when individuals approached me or complimented me or one thing. However I like the truth that I don’t get made up earlier than I’m going out of the home or examine to make certain my hair seems nice. I’ve obtained on these beat-up outdated boots proper now and a few Levi’s with a gap within the knee. I don’t actually need to be stopped once I’m within the grocery retailer and have someone pay a bunch of consideration to me. I’ll be good if that occurs, however it’s not what I would like.”
Souther carried out for his greatest viewers in years this previous January when he joined the Eagles at one among their exhibits at L.A.’s Kia Discussion board. “What an absolute pleasure,” he posted on Fb, “performing these songs written with my greatest buddies and now standing subsequent to Don singing ‘Better of My Love’ with him 50 years after it was primary. It’s inconceivable to wipe the smile off my face. Large because of them and to all of you.”
Souther is survived by his two sisters and his former spouse and her daughter. Donations in JD’s honor might be made to Finest Mates Animal Society, a corporation that was crucial to him.
