  Don Henley was born on July 22,
1947 in Texas where he was also raised.
Henley has often described himself as a
'drummer at heart' and a 'singer by
default." In the early 70s, Henley was
drummer and sometimes lead singer for a group
called Shiloh. But Henley became more
well-known during the 70s as part of the The
Eagles who went on to define the
"California Sound" of 70s music.
Henley quickly stood out in the group not
only as the drummer, but often the lead
singer and songwriter of many of their most
memorable hits. Henley went solo when The
Eagles broke up in 1982. Henley said
of the break up: "We broke up for all
the normal reasons... the jealousy, the envy,
and the people going in different directions.
It was a struggle from the first week to keep
the band together." Henley also became
more of an activist especially with
environmental concerns (namely the Walden
Woods project).
 Henley hit the Top 40
helping out Stevie Nicks with
"Leather And Lace" from her LP Bella
Donna.
Henley hit the Top 10 with Stevie Nicks with
"Leather And Lace."
 # 59
Singles Artist of the Year
 Henley released I
Can't Stand Still.
Henley hit the Top 40
with "Dirty Laundry."
Henley hit the Top 10 with "Dirty Laundry."
I
Can't Stand Still was certified gold.
 # 82
Singles Artist of the Year
 Henley was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance -
Male
("Dirty Laundry").
 # 137
Singles Artist of the Year
Henley released Building
The Perfect Beast.
 Henley hit the Top 40 with
"The
Boys Of Summer." Henley said of the hit
"The
Boys Of Summer": "(The song) was a
look back of the failure of some of the
dreams we had in the sixties, some the
idealism gone bad. People love nostalgia, it
has that yearning, pining thing about it that
we people with Irish blood always have. We're
pining for something, we don't know what it
is, but we're pining for it anyway."
 Building
The Perfect Beast was certified gold.
Henley hit the Top
10
with "All She Wants To Do Is
Dance"
and was certified platinum.
The video for "The
Boys Of Summer" swept the MTV Video Music
Awards with honors for Video of the Year, Best Direction (Jean Baptiste
Mondino), Best Cinematography (Pascal Lebeque), and Best Art Direction (Bryan Jones), and was
nominated for Best Male Video, Viewer's Choice, and Best Concept Video.
Henley won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance -
Male
("The
Boys Of Summer") and was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year (songwriter) ("The
Boys Of Summer").
 # 29
Singles Artist of the Year
Building
The Perfect Beast was certified 2x
platinum.
 Henley released The
End Of The Innocence.
Henley hit the Top 40 with
"The End Of The
Innocence."
Henley hit the Top 10 with "The End Of The
Innocence."
The
End Of The Innocence was certified gold.
Henley hit the Top 40
with "The Last Worthless
Evening."
The
End Of The Innocence was certified
platinum.
 # 42
Singles Artist of the Year
Henley won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance -
Male (The
End Of The Innocence) and was nominated for
Album of the Year (The
End Of The Innocence), Record of the Year and Song of the Year (songwriter) ("The End Of The
Innocence" with Bruce Hornsby).
The
End Of The Innocence was certified 3x
platinum.
 Henley hit the Top 40 with
"The Heart Of The Matter."
The
End Of The Innocence was certified 2x
platinum.
Henley hit the Top 40 with
"How
Bad Do You Want It."
Henley won a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Male Video ("The End Of The
Innocence") and was nominated for Video of the Year, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Viewer's Choice.
Henley hit the Top 40 with
"New York Minute."
 # 88
Singles Artist of the Year
Henley had his 1st #1 since The
Eagles hit when he
contributed vocals to Patty Smyth's
"Sometimes Love Just
Ain't Enough."
 Henley hit the Top 10 with Patty
Smyth on "Sometimes Love Just
Ain't Enough."
Henley and Patty
Smyth topped the Billboard
Adult Contemporary chart for 4 weeks with
"Sometimes Love Just
Ain't Enough."
Henley hit #1 for 2 weeks with Patty
Smyth on "Sometimes Love Just
Ain't Enough."
Henley was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a
Duo or Group ("Sometimes Love Just
Ain't Enough" with Patty Smyth).
Henley performed at a benefit
concert in Boston for Walden Woods.
Rolling
Stone: "The 100 Top Music Videos" included "The
Boys Of Summer" at # 23.
Henley was back with The
Eagles for a successful reunion tour
and live LP.
 Building
The Perfect Beast was certified 3x
platinum and The
End Of The Innocence was certified
5x platinum.
Henley could be heard on the
tribute compilation - Tower
Of Song: The Songs Of Leonard Cohen - with
"Everybody Knows."
Henley released a hits
compilation: Actual
Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits.
Actual
Miles: Don Henley's Greatest Hits was certified gold.
Henley could be heard on the Michael
soundtrack with "Through Your
Hands."
Henley was honored by President
Clinton on for his work to preserve the
environment. Henley's work has included
efforts to save the woods near
Massachusetts's Walden Pond, a region of
wilderness that inspired Henry David
Thoreau's Walden. Henley was awarded
the honor for founding the Walden Woods
Project, which has raised over $17 million.
Actual
Miles: Don Henley's Greatest Hits was certified platinum
and The
End Of The Innocence was certified
6x platinum.
 Henley filed a lawsuit against
Paramount Pictures for not using the track
"Taking You Home" in the film Double
Jeopardy.
Henley and The
Eagles filed a lawsuit for trademark
infringement directed at Internet fan sites
that own various domain names related to the
singer and band.
MTV: 100
Greatest Videos Ever Made includes
"The
Boys Of Summer" at # 67.
 # 80
Singles Artist of the Year
 Henley's next LP, Inside
Job, was released and Henley will
kicked off a tour starting in Texas.
Henley hit the Top 40 with
"Taking
You Home."
Inside
Job was certified platinum.
 A lawsuit was filed against
Henley by a fan who claims she was hit on the
forehead by Henley with a maraca during a
concert in Arkansas while she was trying to
take a picture of him.
"Taking
You Home" topped the Billboard
Adult Contemporary chart for 4 weeks.
Henley was nominated for 3 Grammy Awards including Best Pop Vocal Performance -
Male
("Taking
You Home"), Best Pop Vocal Album (Inside
Job), and Best Rock Vocal Performance -
Male
("Workin' It").
Henley performed on Saturday
Night Live.
Henley was nominated for a
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite
Male Artist - Rock.
VH1: 100
Greatest Videos includes:
# 53
- "The
Boys Of Summer."
Henley was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country
Collaboration with Vocals ("Inside
Out" with Trisha Yearwood).
 Henley was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with
Vocals
("It's So Easy" with Sheryl
Crow from Crow's C'Mon
C'Mon).
Rolling Stone:
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: # 389:
The
End Of The Innocence.
 Henley could be heard on the
compilation Enjoy
Every Sandwich: Songs Of Warren Zevon with the track
"Searching For A Heart."
# 107 on the Top Pop Artists
of the Past 25 Years chart.
Henley was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best
Country Collaboration with Vocals
("Calling Me" with Kenny Rogers).
Henley could be heard on the Reba McEntire LP Reba
Duets with "Break Each Others
Hearts Again."
 Rolling Stone:
'The Greatest Singers' includes Henley at # 87.
The
Very Best Of Don Henley was released.
- February 15: Henley was
nominated for a Grammy
Award for Best
American Roots Song (awarded to the
songwriter) ("The Cost Of
Living").
| Note: Song title and
position links lead you to the song's Top
40 chart run (from the ARC Weekly Top
40)
and LP links take you to Amazon.com's page for that LP
(often including track listings and sound
samples). |
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