Donald William Felder (born September 21, 1947) is an American musician who was the lead guitarist of the rock band Eagles from 1974 to 2001. He is known for co-writing several of the band's songs, most notably "Hotel California". Felder was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 with Eagles and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2016.
Felder was fired from Eagles in 2001 after which he filed lawsuits against his former bandmates alleging wrongful termination, breach of implied-in-fact contract and breach of fiduciary duty. He published an autobiography detailing his tenure with Eagles, Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974–2001), in 2008.
Don Felder was born in Gainesville, Florida, on September 21, 1947. He was raised in a Southern Baptist family.
Felder was first attracted to music after watching Elvis Presley live on The Ed Sullivan Show. He acquired his first guitar when he was about ten years old, which he has stated he exchanged with a friend at the five-and-dime for a handful of cherry bombs. A self-taught musician, he was heavily influenced by rock and roll. At the age of 13 he started his first band, the Continentals in 1960, which also included Stephen Stills and Isaac Guillory.
Felder's family could not afford music lessons, so he taught himself to play guitar by ear, by listening to tape recordings that he played back at half-speed. He worked at a music store started by a Berklee graduate, who taught music theory and some notation to Felder during his employment there.
Around that time, he met Bernie Leadon, who later became one of the founding members of the Eagles. Leadon replaced Stephen Stills in the Continentals, which eventually changed its name to the Maundy Quintet. Felder and Leadon both attended Gainesville High School. Felder gave guitar lessons at a local music shop for about 18 months, at which time he also learned how to play slide guitar from Duane Allman. Although Felder claimed that he taught a young Tom Petty how to play the guitar, Petty said that he was never taught the guitar by Felder, clarifying that Felder instead taught him how to play piano.
The Maundy Quintet recorded and released a 45-rpm single on the Tampa-based Paris Tower label in 1967, which received airplay in north-central Florida.
After the Maundy Quintet broke up, Felder went to Manhattan, New York City, with a band called Flow, which released a self-titled improvisational rock fusion album in 1970. The 1970 Flow album has the distinction of being among the first issued on the newly independent CTI Records label, founded by jazz producer Creed Taylor. While in New York, Felder improved his mastery of improvisation on the guitar and learned various styles. After Flow broke up, Felder moved to Boston where he got a job in a recording studio.
In 1973, Felder moved to Los Angeles where he was hired as guitar player for a tour by David Blue, replacing David Lindley who was touring with Crosby & Nash. He helped Blue put together a tour, during which they opened at a few Crosby and Nash shows in November 1973 and for Neil Young at the opening of the Roxy Theatre. Once again, Felder replaced Lindley, this time in Crosby & Nash's band when Lindley fell ill. He would also jam from time to time with the Eagles in their rehearsal space.
In 1974, he featured on the Michael Dinner album The Great Pretender.
In early January 1974, Felder was called by the Eagles to add slide guitar to their song "Good Day in Hell" and some guitar solos to "Already Gone". Shortly afterward, he was invited to join the band. Concurrently, the band began distancing themselves from their initial country rock style and moving more in the direction of full-fledged rock music. On the band's fourth album, One of These Nights, Felder sang lead vocal on the song "Visions" (the only song on which he was lead vocalist), which he co-wrote with Don Henley, and arranged the title track's distinctive guitar solo and bass line.
After founding member Bernie Leadon departed in 1975 following the tour to support the album, Joe Walsh joined the band. Felder had previously jammed with Walsh while Leadon was still a member of the Eagles, and together as dual guitar leads, they eventually became one of rock music's most memorable onstage partnerships. Felder also doubled on banjo, mandolin and pedal steel guitar on tours, all of which were previously handled by Leadon.
The first album that the Eagles released after the lineup change was Hotel California, which became a major international bestseller. Felder submitted "16 or 17 tracks" that resulted in the songs "Victim of Love" and the album's title track, "Hotel California". For the title track, after the arrangement and instrumentation had been refined, several complete takes were recorded. The best parts were then spliced together, in all 33 edits on the two‑inch master, to create the final version. In contrast, "Victim of Love" was recorded in a live session in studio, apart from the lead vocal and the harmony on the choruses which were added later. Felder initially sang the lead vocals in the many early takes of "Victim of Love", but the band felt that his efforts were not up to the required standard, and Henley then took over as lead vocalist. After the release of Hotel California and the tour that followed, the Eagles found themselves under tremendous pressure to repeat this success and tensions were made worse by alcohol, cocaine and other drugs. Bassist Randy Meisner left the band after the tour due to exhaustion and he was replaced by former Poco bassist Timothy B. Schmit, who had also replaced him in that band. Nevertheless, the fighting did not end with the addition of the mild-mannered Schmit, but it rather intensified during the recording of The Long Run, which took 18 months to complete, and Felder and Glenn Frey were especially hostile to one another, despite respecting each other's musical abilities.
According to Henley, Felder attempted to gain more control by co-opting Walsh so frequently that it was the pair up against himself and Frey when the band was dividing into factions and even Henley and Frey began to have their differences, thus causing the Eagles to disband.
At a concert in Long Beach, California, for Senator Alan Cranston on July 31, 1980, known as the "Long Night at Wrong Beach", things hit a breaking point in the band. The animosity between Felder and Frey boiled over before the show began, after Felder said "You're welcome – I guess" to Cranston and his wife, thus offending Frey. He angrily confronted Felder, and the pair began to threaten beatings throughout the show. Felder recalls Frey telling him during "Best of My Love", "I'm gonna kick your ass when we get off the stage." After the concert, Felder smashed, according to Frey, Felder's "cheapest guitar". "It was becoming the 'Glenn and Don Show' and they expected all of us to fall in line with their whims and wishes," said Felder. "I hate politics and had no desire to campaign for anybody, plus I never met Cranston before. Being in the band was no longer a fun experience." The Eagles disbanded shortly thereafter.
Following the 1980 disbandment of the Eagles, Felder focused more on his family, but also embarked on a solo career, concentrating on film composition and session work. He worked on the Bee Gees' 1981 album Living Eyes as a session guitarist. Through his association with Bee Gees producer Albhy Galuten, Felder made session appearances on albums by artists as diverse as Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, and Andy Gibb. During this time, he also contributed guitar work to Stevie Nicks' first two solo albums, Bella Donna and The Wild Heart.
In 1983, Felder released his first solo album entitled Airborne. The album's single "Never Surrender", co-written with Kenny Loggins, was a minor hit, having also appeared on the soundtrack to the popular motion picture teen comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
In 1985, Henley offered Felder $5,000 a week (US $14,968 in 2025 dollars) to go on tour with him, but Felder turned it down, citing both dissatisfaction with the pay and a desire to not go on tour.