When singer-songwriter JD Souther moved from Texas to Los Angeles in the late 1960s, he joined artists like Joni Mitchell, Crosby Stills and Nash, the Eagles, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, and Linda Ronstadt in the growing California music movement.
After 50 years, Souther was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame. He was called “a principal architect of the Southern California sound and a major influence on a generation of songwriters.” He died at the age of 78.
JD Souther, who wrote hits for the Eagles, dies at 78. https://t.co/hQC6kTEmjN
— NYT Obituaries (@NYTObits) September 27, 2024
Asylum, David Geffen’s record label, took a lot of those artists in, and Souther was one of the first acts they signed. Asylum released John David Souther, his first solo record, in 1972. He would later call himself JD Souther as a tribute to JS Bach. The single didn’t do well at the box office, but the Eagles’ recording of “How Long” for their 2007 album Long Road Out of Eden won a Grammy Award.
Souther would have the most success with his music, especially when he worked closely with the Eagles. He helped write songs for their second album, Desperado (1973), but he was more important on their third album, On the Border (1974), where he co-wrote the songs, James Dean, You Never Cry Like a Lover, and their first US No. 1 hit, Best of My Love.
His best work with the band was on Hotel California (1976), where he co-wrote the hit songs “Victim of Love” and “New Kid in Town.” He helped write Heartache Tonight from The Long Run (1979), which was the Eagles’ last No. 1 song. He also co-wrote several songs for Don Henley’s solo records, including the Top 30 hit “The Heart of the Matter” from “The End of the Innocence” (1989).
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With Chris Hillman (formerly of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Stephen Stills’ Manassas) and Richie Furay (formerly of Buffalo Springfield and Poco), Souther formed the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band in 1973. Their first album with the same name got to number 11 on the US charts and had a Top 30 song called “Fallin’ in Love.” However, their second album, “Trouble in Paradise,” just barely made it into the Top 40.
Even though Souther dated Stevie Nicks and singer-songwriter Judee Sill, his romantic and business relationship with Ronstadt was the closest. Ronstadt recorded many of Souther’s songs, such as “Faithless Love,” “White Rhythm and Blues,” and “Simple Man, Simple Dream.” He sang lead on Ronstadt’s song “Prisoner in Disguise,” which was the title track of her million-selling record from 1975 that peaked at No. 4 on the US album chart.
They also worked together on the song “Hearts Against the Wind,” which was in the 1980 movie “Urban Cowboy.” “One of the reasons JD didn’t have a bigger solo career is because he gave us or Linda Ronstadt most of his best songs,” Glenn Frey of the Eagles once joked.
Souther would put out seven more studio records by himself. People often say that Black Rose (1976) is his best work, and You’re Only Lonely (1979), which reached 41, was his only Top 50 hit. The title track from the second album was a Top 10 hit for him, and his duet with Taylor, “Her Town Too,” reached No. 11 in 1981.
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Even though he made a lot of money writing songs, Souther was happy with his job in the music business. He could live a pretty quiet life. An interview with the website Creative Independent in 2019 showed that he didn’t want to be stopped in the food store and had a lot of attention paid to him. “I’d like that to happen, but I don’t want it to.” His last record, Tenderness, came out in 2015.
His parents were Loty (nee Finley) and John Souther, a big-band singer whose stage name was Johnny Warren and who was always on tour. He was born in Detroit. Because Loty got tired of her husband being away so much, she and her family moved to Texas, first to Dallas and then to Amarillo, where John opened a music store called The Texas Musical Instrument Co. It was the perfect place for his son to hear a lot of different kinds of music. “As a child, the first songs I heard were all jazz and opera songs,” Souther said later.
From the age of eight, he learned to play the violin, then the drums, the piano, the saxophone, the guitar, and the clarinet. He went to Amarillo College, but music was his main passion, so he dropped out to join his first band, the Cinders, which was based in Amarillo.
They put out the song “Day Before Tomorrow” on Warner Bros. Records as John David and the Cinders. This was made at Norman Petty Studios in Clovis, New Mexico. The studio is named after its owner, Norman Petty, who produced Buddy Holly.
JD Souther obituary https://t.co/6uUThGWfEo
— Guardian US (@GuardianUS) September 26, 2024
After that, Souther went to Los Angeles and started dating Alexandra Sliwin. In March 1969, she became his first wife. This is how he met Eagle Frey since Alexandra’s sister Joan had been dating Frey when they lived in Detroit together. Honey Ltd was an all-girls band that the Sliwin sisters were in.
Souther, Frey, and the yet-unknown Browne lived on the floor below them in the same flat. Together, they were known as Longbranch Pennywhistle.
Longbranch Pennywhistle’s only record came out in 1969 on the Amos label, which was run by producer Jimmy Bowen, who was also in charge of producing Frank Sinatra’s Strangers in the Night. The band broke up in 1970, though.
Frey’s next move was to join Henley in making the Eagles. At one point, Souther joining the band was being talked about, but everyone changed their minds. Souther said, “I wasn’t a band person.” “This was always written on my report card: ‘Does not work well with others.'”
He had a side job as an actress, which he liked. He was chosen as John Dunaway in the TV drama Thirtysomething in 1989. In 2012, he played Watty White on the TV country music show Nashville, and he would return for the fifth season in 2017. He was also in many movies, including Mike Nichols’ Postcards from the Edge (1990).
In 1972, he and Sliwin got a divorce, and his second marriage to Sarah Nicholson also ended in divorce. He leaves behind his sisters Susan and Shari, as well as his niece Anja from his second marriage.
