The one rule for any good rock band is to stay in your own lane. Even though it’s easy to get involved in many different aspects of a band’s career, it’s always important to avoid stepping on anyone’s toes when attempting to put the classics together. And for all of Don Felder’s incredible fretboard pyrotechnics with the Eagles, the vocal powerhouse only appeared in front of a microphone once throughout their discography.
Don Henley had already envisioned the band’s vocal sound as round-robin before Felder joined. While Henley and Glenn Frey were responsible for some of the band’s greatest radio hits, Randy Meisner or Joe Walsh could have taken the lead on occasion or added his signature squawk to the band’s later material.
Felder’s signing with the Eagles was never based on his vocal ability. Original guitarist Bernie Leadon recruited Don Felder because the band always required a fifth element when playing leads. Blown away by his work on tracks like ‘Already Gone,’ Frey bestowed the nickname ‘Fingers‘ Felder upon him. Once production on the album On the Border concluded, he decided to keep him on board.
While the band’s previous album, Desperado, floundered on the charts, they regained momentum with the new album. Quickly gaining traction, One of These Nights propelled them forward. Although there was amazing material on every track, the most experimental song on the album was ‘Visions‘. This featured Felder on lead vocals.
Others in the band never praised Felder for having the strongest voice. He may give a serviceable performance throughout the song. However, some of the world’s most overqualified background vocalists appear to carry the majority of it.
It appears that the band also agreed after the fact. Felder’s bandmates did everything they could to keep him away from the lead vocal booth while recording Hotel California. Frey recalled in History of the Eagles, “Don and I thought that there was no room for filler, and Don Felder, for all of his strengths as a guitarist, is not a singer.”
Felder left Hotel California with a writing credit but was dissatisfied with being pushed backstage. That kind of raw wound would eventually show itself more and more throughout the band’s career. It resulted in Felder shouting obscenities at Frey during a benefit gig that ended the band for good.
After the band split up, Felder pursued a solo career. He contributed a few songs to the hard rock film Heavy Metal. According to his vocal abilities on a number of his solo albums, ‘Visions‘ was probably the best the guitar legend could ever sound behind the microphone. In retrospect, for a band focused on creating angelic vocal harmonies on their record, the idea of that voice competing with Henley’s seems completely ridiculous. The mix didn’t align with the band’s emphasis on harmonies.
