Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler Walsh (born Joseph Woodward Fidler; November 20, 1947)[2][3] is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Best known as a member of the rock band Eagles, his five-decade career has also included solo work and stints in two other successful rock bands: James Gang and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. He was also part of the New Zealand band Herbs. In the 1990s, he was a member of the short-lived supergroup the Best.
For the former congressman/former presidential candidate, see Joe Walsh (Illinois politician). For other people, see Joseph Walsh (disambiguation).
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler
"Clown Prince of Rock"[1]
"Average Joe"
November 20, 1947
Wichita, Kansas, U.S.
- Musician
- songwriter
- Guitar
- vocals
- keyboards
1965–present
Walsh has also experienced success both as a solo artist and as a prolific session musician, being featured on a wide array of other artists' recordings. In 2011, Rolling Stone placed him at the No. 54 spot on its list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[4]
In the mid-1960s, after attending Kent State University, Walsh played with several local Ohio-based bands before reaching a national audience as a member of the James Gang, whose hit song "Funk #49" highlighted his skill as both a guitarist and singer. Roger Abramson, a concert producer and artist manager, signed the James Gang to a management agreement with BPI in Cleveland. After leaving the James Gang in 1972, he formed Barnstorm with Joe Vitale, a college friend from Ohio, and Kenny Passarelli, a bassist from Colorado, where Walsh had moved after leaving Ohio. While the band stayed together for three albums over three years, its works were marketed as Walsh solo projects. The last Barnstorm album, 1974's So What, contained significant guest contributions from several members of the Eagles, a group that had recently hired Walsh's producer, Bill Szymczyk.
At Szymczyk's suggestion, Walsh joined the Eagles in 1975 as the band's guitarist and keyboardist following the departure of their founding member Bernie Leadon. Hotel California was his first album with the band.[5] In 1998, a reader's poll conducted by Guitarist magazine selected the guitar solos on the track "Hotel California" by Walsh and Don Felder as the best guitar solos of all time.[6] Guitar World magazine listed it at eighth of the Top 100 Guitar Solos.[7]
Besides his work with his several bands, he has released 12 solo studio albums, six compilation albums, and two live albums. His solo hits include "Rocky Mountain Way", "Life's Been Good", "All Night Long", "A Life of Illusion", and "Ordinary Average Guy".
As a member of the Eagles, Walsh was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001. The Eagles are considered to be one of the most influential bands of the 1970s, and they remain one of the best-selling American bands in the history of popular music.[8] His creative contribution to music has received praise from many of the most prominent rock guitarists, including Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, who said, "He has a tremendous feel for the instrument. I've loved his style since the early James Gang."[9] Eric Clapton said that "He's one of the best guitarists to surface in some time. I don't listen to many records, but I listen to his."[9] The Who's guitarist, Pete Townshend, said "Joe Walsh is a fluid and intelligent player. There're not many like that around."[4][9]
Early life and education[edit]
Walsh was born on November 20, 1947, in Wichita, Kansas. His father, Lt. Robert Newton Fidler, was a pilot for the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star in the United States Air Force and died in a plane crash in Okinawa on July 22, 1949.[10] Walsh's mother, Helen, was a classically trained pianist of Scottish and German ancestry.
Walsh was adopted by his stepfather at the age of five and given his stepfather's surname, but retained Fidler as his middle name. In the 1950s, it was common practice for children to take the name of their stepfather for Social Security, school registration, and health records.[11] Walsh and his family lived in Columbus, Ohio, for a number of years during his youth. When he was twelve, his family moved to New York City. Later, Walsh moved to Montclair, New Jersey and attended Montclair High School, where he played oboe in the school band.
Walsh acquired his first guitar at the age of 10, and upon learning the Ventures' "Walk Don't Run", decided that he wanted to pursue a career as a guitarist.[12] Inspired by the success of the Beatles, he replaced Bruce Hoffman as the bass player in the locally popular group the Nomads in Madison, New Jersey, beginning his career as a rock musician.
After high school, Walsh briefly attended Kent State University, where he spent time in various bands playing around the Cleveland, Ohio, area, including the Measles. The Measles recorded for Super K Productions' Ohio Express the songs "I Find I Think of You", "And It's True", and "Maybe" (an instrumental version of "And It's True"). He planned to major in English and minor in music. Walsh has also stated he was present during the Kent State massacre in 1970. Walsh commented in 2012: "Being at the shootings really affected me profoundly. I decided that maybe I don't need a degree that bad."[13] After one term, he dropped out of college to pursue his musical career.[9]
Musical career[edit]
1965–1967: The Measles[edit]
The Measles, an Ohio garage bar band, were formed in 1965 by four Kent State University students, one of whom was Joe Walsh. Two tracks on the Ohio Express's Beg Borrow and Steal album, "I Find I Think Of You" and "And It's True" (both featuring Joe Walsh vocals), were actually recorded by the Measles, led by Walsh. Additionally, an instrumental version of "And It's True" was recorded by the Measles, re-titled "Maybe" and released as the B-side of the "Beg Borrow and Steal" single.
Influences[edit]
Walsh cites influences from rock and pop bands and guitarists, many of whom he has encountered on concert tours: Les Paul, Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, Jeff Beck, the Beatles, Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin, Ritchie Blackmore and Deep Purple, Manfred Mann, Duane Allman and the Allman Brothers, Ronnie Wood and the Faces, Pete Townshend and the Who, and the Ventures. In turn, he has influenced Dan Fogelberg, Maroon 5, Kenny Chesney, Jonny Lang, Blitzen Trapper, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and George Thorogood.[59] Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band taught Walsh how to play the slide guitar.[60]
Public service[edit]
Walsh is active in charity work and has performed in a number of concerts to raise money for charitable causes. He has also been a personal contributor to a number of charity causes including halfway houses for displaced adult women in Wichita, Kansas. Walsh funded the first talent-based scholarship at Kent State University in 2008.[61]
Walsh's love of Santa Cruz Island grew into a lifelong commitment to conserve the environment there, and he has been active in preserving the island's parks. He is President of the Santa Cruz Island Foundation, and has served on the Foundation's board since the 1980s.
Walsh had often joked about running for office, announcing a mock presidential campaign in 1980 and a vice presidential campaign in 1992. Walsh ran for President of the United States in 1980, promising to make "Life's Been Good" the new national anthem if he won, and ran on a platform of "Free Gas For Everyone".[62] Though Walsh was only 32 at the time of the election and thus would not have met the 35-year-old requirement to actually assume office, he said that he wanted to raise public awareness of the election.[63] In 1992 Walsh ran for vice president with Rev. Goat Carson under the slogan "We Want Our Money Back!"[64]
In an interview to promote his album Analog Man in 2012, Walsh revealed he was considering a serious bid for political office. "I think I would run seriously, and I think I would run for Congress," Walsh told WASH in Washington, D.C. "The root of the problem is that Congress is so dysfunctional. We're dead in the water until Congress gets to work and passes some new legislation to change things."[64]
In 2017, Walsh contacted others in the music industry, including the Zac Brown Band, Gary Clark Jr., and Keith Urban, to try to organize and perform what became VetsAid[65] – a concert series along the lines of Willie Nelson's Farm Aid.