Photo Archive: Eagles, 1976
A photo from this session was used on the cover of the trade publication Record World (May 8, 1976).
Photo Archive: Eagles by David Alexander
Miami, June 24th, 1976
These images were taken in Miami while the Eagles were recording Hotel California at Criteria Studios. They are dated by the June 24th, 1976 issue of the Miami Herald Don Henley is reading in the third photo. The hotel and restaurant photos were taken at a Howard Johnson’s in Miami. Many of these photos were originally published in the Eagles’ Hotel California Song Book and Tour Book.
Don Henley is reading from a Miami Herald newspaper dated June 24th, 1976.
The placemat on Randy’s table matches a placemat from Howard Johnson’s restaurant.
Randy is wearing Fred Perry Etonic tennis shoes, named for the famous tennis player.
Photo Archive: Eagles by David Alexander, 1976
Photos from this session were used for publicity for the Hotel California album and tour, including the individual shots of the band (the photo of Don Felder was taken in 1975 by Norman Seeff).
Photos
Photo Archive: Eagles, HOTEL CALIFORNIA Cover, 1976
Photographers: David Alexander/Norman Seeff
The cover photos of the Beverly Hills Hotel at sunset, taken at Will Rodgers Memorial Park, and the back cover and gatefold, taken in the lobby of the Lido Apartments in Los Angeles, were taken by David Alexander. The cover was designed by Kosh and Don Henley.
A poster insert was included with first issues of the album. It showed the band posed on a bed. According to photographer, Norman Seeff, this photo was a composite (multiple photos combined to create one image).
“Soon after commencing this session, the band walked out. I had no idea why at the time. A week later, I showed them a poster design I had created by combining a number of individual shots. They loved it and all was forgiven. It became a poster insert for the HOTEL CALIFORNIA album.”
Norman Seeff
Below are outtakes from this session.
Photo Archive: Eagles, Sydney Australia, January 1976
This photo was taken in Sydney, Australia during the Eagles’ tour of the Pacific in January 1976.
Photo Archive:
Eagles – Sebel Townhouse, Sydney
January 21, 1976
Photographer: Trevor Dallen
Location: Sebel Townhouse, Elizabeth Bay, New South Wales, Australia
These photos were taken at the infamous Sebel Townhouse, nicknamed the “Rock and Roll Hotel,” due to its reputation for turning a blind eye, and even catering to, the bad behavior of traveling rock stars. The Eagles gave a press conference at the hotel and posed for photographs. The band was on a 10-day tour of Australia with their new member Joe Walsh. Ticket demand for their show in Sydney, on January 22nd, was so large that a second show had to be added on the same night.
Photo Archive:
Eagles by David Alexander, c.December 1975
First photos featuring new member, Joe Walsh, who had joined the band in late 1975 following the departure of original member, Bernie Leadon. One photo from this shoot was used to advertise the first American show, with their new lineup, in the Honolulu Advertiser, January 24, 1976. This early advertisement helped date the photos to at least December 1975 because Randy still had long hair. When the band appeared in Australia in January 1976, Randy had short hair.
Don Felder recalled in his autobiography that this photo session took place at a ranch in Calabasas, “with old wagon wheels in the yard,” while the band was in the early stages of working on their forthcoming album, Hotel California.
Photos
Photo Archive: Eagles by Ken Regan, July 29th, 1975
This series of photos were taken by Ken Regan in Edwardsville, Illinois on the afternoon of July 29th, 1975. The Eagles were in town to perform the Mississippi River Festival that evening. Regan took photos at the nearby Holiday Inn, as well as backstage at the festival. The images show Randy wearing a red shirt with a white tornado on the front. The shirt matched the band’s stage passes at the time, which also were also red with a white tornado logo. Don Henley has one of these stage passes attached to his untucked denim shirt in some of the photos below. Randy’s ex-wife, Jennifer Meisner, and their son Dana recalled that the tornado may have meant “whirlwind” or something similar.
One of Randy’s “whirlwind” stage passes from 1975.
Photos
Photo Archive: Eagles by Henry Diltz, circa late 1974
The band is photographed with Don Henley’s 1936 Ford.
Photo Archive: Eagles by Henry Diltz, August 1974
Taken around the same time as another series of photos by Diltz from August 25th, 1974. The same September 1974 issue of Playboy can be seen in both sets.
Photos
Photo Archive: Eagles by Henry Diltz, August 25th, 1974
These photos were taken on August 25th, 1974 en route to Norfolk, Virginia (possibly from New Jersey) where the Eagles were opening for the Beach Boys at Scope Arena that evening. Diltz shot another set of band photos around the same time (click here). The same September 1974 issue of Playboy appears in both sets.
Photos
Eagles by Henry Diltz
Topanga Canyon, September 1973
This series of photos were taken at Bernie Leadon’s home in Topanga Canyon, CA. Another set of photos were taken at Bernie’s home by Ethan Russell circa 1971.
Photos from this session were used in a rare two-sided poster insert, found only in original first issues of On The Border in 1974.
Front and back of poster insert:
Present at the photo session were Randy’s wife, Jennifer, and their three-year-old daughter, Heather. Jennifer took these rare snapshots of the session as it was happening, including a photo of Heather with the band in the background. Photos courtesy of Jennifer Meisner. Shared with permission.
There were a couple of wardrobe changes during the session. Don Henley changed into the tan shirt Randy was wearing and Randy changed into a yellow chamois shirt. Glenn Frey switches from a denim shirt into a denim jacket. Bernie Leadon switched to a white shirt (see photo here). Randy wore the yellow shammy shirt in two other photo sessions: London, March 1973 and another Diltz session in early 1974.
Photos
Photo Archive: Eagles by Peter Mazel, Holland, November 13th, 1973
These photos were taken prior to the Eagles’ concert at the De Doelen in Rotterdam either backstage or at Mazel’s studio in The Hague.
Randy’s shirt is a nod to his hometown of Scottsbluff, Nebraska. The Frank Implement Company was owned by the father of one of his friends. Randy worked there for several months in 1970 between stints touring with Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band.
Randy and Glenn Frey are wearing gold medallions that were a gift from producer Glyn Johns.
“As a gesture of friendship, Glyn had these solid-gold medallions made for each of us, after which they threw away the mold. It had an Eagle on the front, and our names on the back. Proof that I was an original Eagle.” (Randy Meisner, To The Limit: The Untold Story Of The Eagles by Marc Eliot, 1997)
Closeup of Glenn Frey’s medallion. The word “EAGLES” can be seen along the bottom.
Photos
