Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2, it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island, the ninth-largest island in the world. In 2011, Great Britain had a population of about 61 million people, making it the world's third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan; the island of Ireland is situated to the west of Great Britain, together these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands, form the British Isles archipelago. The island is dominated by a maritime climate with quite narrow temperature differences between seasons. Politically, Great Britain is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, constitutes most of its territory. Most of England and Wales are on the island; the term "Great Britain" is used to include the whole of England and Wales including their component adjoining islands. A single Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the union of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland by the 1707 Acts of Union.
In 1801, Great Britain united with the neighbouring Kingdom of Ireland, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, renamed the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" after the Irish Free State seceded in 1922. The archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2000 years: the term'British Isles' derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as a collective name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of Britain the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain, Roman-occupied Britain south of Caledonia; the earliest known name for Great Britain is Albion or insula Albionum, from either the Latin albus meaning "white" or the "island of the Albiones". The oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was by Aristotle, or by Pseudo-Aristotle, in his text On the Universe, Vol. III. To quote his works, "There are two large islands in it, called the British Isles and Ierne".
Pliny the Elder in his Natural History records of Great Britain: "Its former name was Albion. Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne; the French form replaced the Old English Breoton, Bryten, Breten. Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together, it is derived from the travel writings of the Pytheas around 320 BC, which described various islands in the North Atlantic as far north as Thule. Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, described the island group as αἱ Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι; the peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the Priteni or Pretani. Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic-speaking inhabitants of Ireland; the latter were called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans. Greek historians Diodorus of Sicily and Strabo preserved variants of Prettanike from the work of Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia, who travelled from his home in Hellenistic southern Gaul to Britain in the 4th century BC.
The term used by Pytheas may derive from a Celtic word meaning "the painted ones" or "the tattooed folk" in reference to body decorations. The Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain and to Ireland as little Britain in his work Almagest. In his work, Geography, he gave the islands the names Alwion and Mona, suggesting these may have been the names of the individual islands not known to him at the time of writing Almagest; the name Albion appears to have fallen out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Britain, after which Britain became the more commonplace name for the island. After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae refers to the island as Britannia major, to distinguish it from Britannia minor, the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany, settled in the fifth and sixth centuries by migrants from Britain; the term Great Britain was first used in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Cecily the daughter of Edward IV of England, James the son of James III of Scotland, which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee".
It was used again in 1604, when King James VI and I styled himself "King of Great Brittaine and Ireland". Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain, it is often used to refer politically to the whole of England and Wales, including their smaller off shore islands. While it is sometimes used to refer to the whole of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, this is not correct. Britain can refer to either all island
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a region of The Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands and the surrounding coasts. The region is southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the North American mainland, east of Central America, north of South America. Situated on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 700 islands, islets and cays; these islands form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea. The Caribbean islands, consisting of the Greater Antilles on the north and the Lesser Antilles on the south and east, are part of the somewhat larger West Indies grouping, which includes the Lucayan Archipelago; the Lucayans and, less Bermuda, are sometimes considered Caribbean despite the fact that none of these islands border the Caribbean Sea. In a wider sense, the mainland countries and territories of Belize, the Caribbean region of Colombia, the Yucatán Peninsula, Margarita Island, the Guyanas, are included due to their political and cultural ties with the region.
Geopolitically, the Caribbean islands are regarded as a subregion of North America and are organized into 30 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, dependencies. From December 15, 1954, to October 10, 2010, there was a country known as the Netherlands Antilles composed of five states, all of which were Dutch dependencies. From January 3, 1958, to May 31, 1962, there was a short-lived political union called the West Indies Federation composed of ten English-speaking Caribbean territories, all of which were British dependencies; the West Indies cricket team continues to represent many of those nations. The region takes its name from that of the Caribs, an ethnic group present in the Lesser Antilles and parts of adjacent South America at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Americas; the two most prevalent pronunciations of "Caribbean" outside the Caribbean are, with the primary stress on the third syllable, with the stress on the second. Most authorities of the last century preferred the stress on the third syllable.
This is the older of the two pronunciations, but the stressed-second-syllable variant has been established for over 75 years. It has been suggested that speakers of British English prefer while North American speakers more use, but major American dictionaries and other sources list the stress on the third syllable as more common in American English too. According to the American version of Oxford Online Dictionaries, the stress on the second syllable is becoming more common in UK English and is considered "by some" to be more up to date and more "correct"; the Oxford Online Dictionaries claim that the stress on the second syllable is the most common pronunciation in the Caribbean itself, but according to the Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, the most common pronunciation in Caribbean English stresses the first syllable instead. The word "Caribbean" has multiple uses, its principal ones are political. The Caribbean can be expanded to include territories with strong cultural and historical connections to slavery, European colonisation and the plantation system.
The United Nations geoscheme for the Americas presents the Caribbean as a distinct region within the Americas. Physiographically, the Caribbean region is a chain of islands surrounding the Caribbean Sea. To the north, the region is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Florida and the Northern Atlantic Ocean, which lies to the east and northeast. To the south lies the coastline of the continent of South America. Politically, the "Caribbean" may be centred on socio-economic groupings found in the region. For example, the bloc known as the Caribbean Community contains the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, the Republic of Suriname in South America and Belize in Central America as full members. Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are in the Atlantic Ocean, are associate members of the Caribbean Community; the Commonwealth of the Bahamas is in the Atlantic and is a full member of the Caribbean Community. Alternatively, the organisation called the Association of Caribbean States consists of every nation in the surrounding regions that lie on the Caribbean, plus El Salvador, which lies on the Pacific Ocean.
According to the ACS, the total population of its member states is 227 million people. The geography and climate in the Caribbean region varies: Some islands in the region have flat terrain of non-volcanic origin; these islands include Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, Saint Croix, the Bahamas, Antigua. Others possess rugged towering mountain-ranges like the islands of Saint Martin, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Dominica, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Saint Thomas, Saint John, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Guadeloupe and Trinidad and Tobago. Definitions of the terms Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles vary; the Virgin Islands as part of the Puerto Rican bank are sometimes included with the Greater Antilles. The term Lesser Antilles is used to define an island arc that includes Grenada but excludes Trinidad and Tobago and the Leeward Antilles; the waters of the Caribbean Sea host large, migratory schools of fish and coral reef
Rainbow Theatre
The Rainbow Theatre known as the Astoria Theatre, is a Grade II*-listed building in Finsbury Park, London. The theatre was built in 1930 and was used as a cinema, it became a music venue. Today, the building is used as a Pentecostal church. Former Stage Manager Rick Burton has published a website with a detailed history of who has performed at the theatre and when; when it opened in 1930, the Astoria Cinema was one of the largest in the world. Standing at the junction of Isledon Road and Seven Sisters Road on an island site, it was the fourth of the famous London suburban Astoria Theatres built by film exhibitor Arthur Segal, it was opened on 29 September 1930: there were three other Astorias, Old Kent Road and Brixton. It was in use as a cinema until September 1971 when it was permanently given over to live music – although rock concerts had been a feature throughout the 1960s; the plain faience exterior, designed by Edward A. Stone, acted as a foil to a lavish'atmospheric interior' by Somerford & Barr, with decoration carried out by Marc-Henri and G. Laverdet.
A Moorish foyer with a goldfish-filled fountain led to an auditorium recalling an Andalucian village at night, with seating for 3,040. The stage, 35 feet deep and spanned by a 64-foot-wide proscenium arch, was equipped with a twin-console Compton 3-manual/13-rank theatre organ. Backstage, there were 12 dressing rooms; the opening night, 29 September 1930, featured Ronald Colman in Condemned and a Gala Stage Spectacle, with artists from the other Astoria Theatres making a special engagement on the stage. In December 1930, the Astoria was taken over by Paramount Pictures, it was taken over again, by Oscar Deutsch's Odeon Theatres Ltd.. One-night concerts were held on the stage in the 1960s, with the building becoming one of the premier music venues in the capital, it was at this theatre that Jimi Hendrix first burnt a guitar, with the collusion of his manager Chas Chandler and a journalist from NME. Hendrix proceeded to set fire to his Fender Stratocaster guitar on 31 March 1967 on the opening night of the Walker Brothers tour, resulting in a hospital appointment for Hendrix's burnt fingers.
The Beach Boys' album, Live In London, was recorded here in 1968. Renamed "Odeon" on 17 November 1970, the theatre was closed by the Rank Organisation on 25 September 1971 with Bill Travers in Gorgo and Hayley Mills in Twisted Nerve; the Odeon was converted into the Rainbow Theatre from 4 November 1971, when the Who performed the first concert in the newly named theatre. The Who wrote and recorded the song "Long Live Rock", which celebrates the theatre; the Osmonds made their debut appearance in London at the Rainbow Theatre in the early 1970s. Frank Zappa had serious injuries in the evening of 10 December 1971, when a member of the audience ran up the side steps of the stage and pushed him off the stage, causing him to fracture a leg and cut his head. Zappa was in hospital for six weeks; the Faces performed there on 12 February 1972. Pink Floyd played a four-night stand at the venue during the beginning of their Eclipsed Tour, on which its main set is known as the "pre-Dark Side Of The Moon" set, from 17 to 20 February 1972.
The last night performance was broadcast on BBC Radio. The band played two benefit concerts at the Rainbow on 4 November 1973 for Robert Wyatt, paralyzed from a fall. In the summer of 1972, Dave Martin of Martin Audio was commissioned to install professional audio mixing consoles and sound support equipment to this, two other proposed Rainbow theaters in and around London. Thomas "Todd" Fischer, Equipment Manager at the time for the British Rock group "Uriah Heep" had established a friendship and working arrangement with Martin while on a two-week hiatus before resuming a European tour, which required Mr. Fischer to wire up the audio mixing consoles, a somewhat laborious and tedious task that took 10 fourteen-hour days to complete. David Bowie performed two concerts there during his Ziggy Stardust tour on 19 and 20 August 1972. Yes filmed their concerts on 15 and 16 December 1972 at the Rainbow for the 1975 film release Yessongs. Eric Clapton played there in January 1973. Featured artists who played with him were Pete Townshend, Stevie Winwood, Ron Wood, Rich Grech, Jim Capaldi, Jimmy Karstein and Rebop.
A recording of the concert was released in September 1973 as Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert. James Brown performed in March 1973. Van Morrison performed two nights at this venue in July 1973, with his band at the time, the Caledonia Soul Orchestra; the second of the performances was broadcast in May 1974, as the first simultaneous broadcast, on BBC 2 and Radio 2. The concert was voted by Q magazine readers as one of the top live performances of all time. Several of the songs featured in the two concerts were included in Morrison's 1974 double live album It's Too Late to Stop Now. Genesis performed many times at the Rainbow over their career, their concert of 20 October 1973 was released as Live at the Rainbow Theatre. The concert recording was included on the first Genesis Archive set, released in 1998; the Sweet appeared at the Rainbow Theatre on 21 December 1973 and subsequently released a live album called Live At The Rainbow 1973. Glam rock singer Gary Glitter performed a show here on Christmas day 1973.
The performance was used in his live album and documentary/concert film, both titled "Remember Me This Way". In January 1974, Stevie Wonder played two dates at the Rainbow, among his first public performances after surviving a serious automobile accident five months earlier; the sold-out concerts were attended by many fellow musicians, including P
Live (Burning Spear album)
"The Ghost" "I and I Survive" "Black Soul" "Lion" "Further East Of Jack" "Man In The Hills" "Throw Down Your Arms" Recorded live at the Rainbow Theatre, England, October, 1977 Published by Island Music, Inc. Except "Lion" and "Throw Down Your Arms" published by Burning Spear Publishing Sound Engineer: Dennis Thompson Recorded By Frank Owen, Island Mobile Mixed At Island, Hammersmith By Gowin Logie and Terry Barham Mastered By John Dent at Trident Studios Cover Photos – Peter Murphy and Claire Hershman Special Thanks to Dennis Thompson The core of musicians on the album made up the band Aswad. Winston Rodney aka Burning Spear – vocals Phillip Fullwood – congos George Lee – saxophone Angus Gaye – drums Bobby Ellis – trumpet Brinsley Forde – rhythm guitar George Oban – bass Courtney Hemmings – keyboards Donald Griffins – lead guitar
Sting (musician)
Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner CBE, known as Sting, is an English musician, singer and actor. He was the principal songwriter, lead singer, bassist for the new wave rock band the Police from 1977 to 1984, launched a solo career in 1985, he has included elements of rock, reggae, new-age and worldbeat in his music. As a solo musician and a member of the Police, he has received 17 Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year for ”Every Breath You Take”, three Brit Awards, including Best British Male in 1994 and Outstanding Contribution in 2002, a Golden Globe, an Emmy and four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. In 2002, he received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters and Authors and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Police in 2003. In 2000, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recording. In 2003, Sting received a CBE from Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for services to music.
He was made a Kennedy Center Honoree at the White House in 2014, was awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2017. With the Police, Sting became one of the world's best-selling music artists. Solo and with the Police combined, he has sold over 100 million records. In 2006, Paste ranked him 62nd of the 100 best living songwriters, he was 63rd of VH1's 100 greatest artists of rock, 80th of Q magazine's 100 greatest musical stars of the 20th century. He has collaborated with other musicians on songs such as "Money for Nothing" with Dire Straits, "Rise & Fall" with Craig David, "All for Love", with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart, "You Will Be My Ain True Love" with Alison Krauss, introduced the North African music genre raï to Western audiences through his international hit "Desert Rose" with Cheb Mami. In 2018, he released the album 44/876, a collaboration with Jamaican musician Shaggy, which won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2019. Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner was born on 2 October 1951, in Wallsend, England, the eldest of four children of Audrey, a hairdresser, Ernest Matthew Sumner, a milkman and engineer.
He grew up near Wallsend's shipyards. At eight or ten years old, he was inspired by the Queen Mother waving at him from a Rolls-Royce to divert from the shipyard prospect towards a more glamorous life, he helped his father deliver milk and by ten was "obsessed" with an old Spanish guitar left by an emigrating friend of his father. He attended St Cuthbert's Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne, he visited nightclubs such as Club A'Gogo to see Manfred Mann, who influenced his music. After being a bus conductor, building labourer and tax officer, he attended Northern Counties College of Education from 1971 to 1974 and qualified as a teacher, he taught at St Paul's First School in Cramlington for two years. Sting performed jazz in the evening and during breaks from college and teaching, he played with the Phoenix Jazzmen, Newcastle Big Band, Last Exit. He gained his nickname after his habit of wearing a black and yellow sweater with hooped stripes with the Phoenix Jazzmen. Bandleader Gordon Solomon thought he looked like a bee, which prompted the name "Sting".
In the 1985 documentary Bring on the Night a journalist called him Gordon, to which he replied, "My children call me Sting, my mother calls me Sting, this Gordon character?" In 2011, he told Time. You could shout'Gordon' in the street and I would just move out of your way." In January 1977, Sting moved from Newcastle to London and joined Stewart Copeland and Henry Padovani to form the Police. From 1978 to 1983, they had five UK chart-topping albums, won six Grammy Awards, won two Brit Awards, their initial sound was punk-inspired. Their final album, was nominated for five Grammy Awards including Album of the Year in 1983, it included their most successful song, "Every Breath, written by Sting. According to Sting, who appeared in the documentary Last Play at Shea, he decided to leave the Police while onstage during a concert of 18 August 1983 at Shea Stadium in New York City because he felt that playing that venue was " Everest". While never formally breaking up, after Synchronicity, the group agreed to concentrate on solo projects.
As the years went by, the band members Sting, dismissed the possibility of reforming. In 2007, the band did reform and undertook a world tour. Four of the band's five studio albums appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, two of the band's songs, "Every Breath You Take" and "Roxanne", each written by Sting, appeared on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In addition, "Every Breath You Take" and "Roxanne" were among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2003, the band were inducted into the Roll Hall of Fame, they were included in Rolling Stone's and VH1's lists of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 1978, Sting collaborated with members of Hawkwind and Gong as the Radio Actors on the one-off single "Nuclear Waste". In September 1981, Sting made his first live solo appearance, on all four nights of the fourth Amnesty International benefit The Secret Policeman's Other Ball in London's Drury Lane theatre at the invitation of producer Martin Lewis.
He performed solo versions of "Roxanne" and "Message in a Bottle". He led an all-star band (dubbed "the
Bob Marley and the Wailers
Bob Marley and the Wailers were a Jamaican reggae band led by Bob Marley. It developed from the earlier ska vocal group, the Wailers, created by Marley with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer in 1963. By late 1963 singers Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, Cherry Smith had joined on. By the early 1970s, Marley and Bunny Wailer had learned to play some instruments and brothers Aston "Family Man" Barrett and Carlton Barrett, had joined the band. After Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh left the band in 1974, Marley began touring with new band members, his new backing band included the Barrett brothers, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "I Threes", consisting of Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, Marley's wife, provided backing vocals; the Wailers were formed when self-taught musician Hubert Winston McIntosh met the singers Neville Livingston, Robert Nesta Marley in 1963. The lineup was known variously as the Teenagers, the Wailing Rudeboys, the Wailing Wailers and just the Wailers.
The original lineup featured Junior Braithwaite on vocals, Bob Marley on guitar, Peter Tosh on keyboard, Neville Livingston on drums, Cherry Smith and Beverley Kelso on backing vocals. By 1966 Braithwaite and Smith had left the band, which consisted of the trio Livingston and Tosh; some of the Wailers' most notable songs were recorded with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band the Upsetters. In 1964, the Wailers topped the Jamaican charts with "Simmer Down"; the Wailers worked with renowned reggae producer Leslie Kong, who used his studio musicians called Beverley's All-Stars to record the songs that would be released as an album titled "The Best of The Wailers". In 1966, they created a rocksteady record label, the Wail N Soul M. During the early 1970s the Upsetters members Aston "Family Man" Barrett and his brother Carlton Barrett, formed the Wailers Band, providing instrumental backing for The Wailers; the Wailers recorded groundbreaking ska and reggae songs such as "Simmer Down", "Trenchtown Rock", "Nice Time", "War", "Stir It Up" and "Get Up, Stand Up".
An attempt at creating a full overview of all the music made by The Wailers prior to their signing to Island Records was made by the Roots Reggae Library. The original Wailers line-up disbanded in 1974 due to Tosh and Livingston's refusal to play "freak clubs"; the pair believed doing so would violate their Rastafarian faith. Bob Marley formed Bob Marley and the Wailers with himself as guitarist and main singer, the Wailers Band as the backing band, the I Three as backup vocalists; the Wailers Band included the brothers Carlton Barrett and "Family Man" Barrett on drums and bass Junior Marvin and Al Anderson playing lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo playing keyboard, Alvin "Seeco" Patterson playing percussion. The I Three consisted of Bob Marley's wife Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths. Livingston believed that producer Chris Blackwell, whom he called "Chris Whiteworst", was responsible for the bad relationship between the band members, as he thought Blackwell released their albums under "Bob Marley and the Wailers" instead of "the Wailers" since 1969, which tested their friendship.
Perry released two compilation albums for Trojan Records in 1974, Rasta Revolution and African Herbsman, which contained songs from Soul Rebels and Soul Revolution and he was the copyright holder of several songs from these albums. These changes caused a major dispute between Marley and Perry, when the former saw the albums, six months after their publication, in the Half Way Road in England. Bob Marley and the Wailers, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer all enjoyed considerable success as reggae music continued to gain popularity during the 1970s and 1980s. One of the last performances that included Marley was in 1980 at Madison Square Garden. Several of the group's members have died subsequent to Marley's death in 1981: Carlton Barrett and Tosh in 1987, Braithwaite in 1999, Smith in 2008, Earl Lindo in 2017. Bunny Wailer and Beverley Kelso are the only surviving members of the group's original line-up; the I Three called I Threes, were formed in 1974 to support Bob Marley and the Wailers after Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer – the original Wailer backing vocalists – left the band.
The three members were Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths. Their name is intended as a spin on the Rastafarian "I and I" concept of the Godhead within each person; the Wailing Wailers Soul Rebels Soul Revolution The Best of The Wailers Catch a Fire Burnin' Natty Dread Rastaman Vibration Exodus Kaya Survival Uprising Confrontation Apr–Jul 1973: Catch a Fire Tour Oct–Nov 1973: Burnin' Tour Jun–Jul 1975: Natty Dread Tour Apr–Jul 1976: Rastaman Vibration Tour May–Jun 1977: Exodus Tour May–Aug 1978: Kaya Tour Apr–May 1979: Babylon by Bus Tour Oct 1979 – Jan 1980: Survival Tour May–Sep 1980: Uprising Tour The Upsetters Word and Power The Wailers Band The Original Wailers Ma
Eagles (band)
The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. The founding members were Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner. With five number-one singles, six Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, six number-one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Their Greatest Hits and Hotel California, were ranked among the 20 best-selling albums in the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of America. By 2006, both albums were among the top three best-selling albums in the United States. Hotel California is ranked 37th in Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and the band was ranked number 75 on the magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time; the Eagles are one of the best-selling bands, having sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.—120 million in the U. S. alone. Their Greatest Hits is the number one selling album in the US with more than 38 million album units in sales and streams and Hotel California is the third best selling album with more than 26 million album units in sales and streams.
Their Greatest Hits was the best selling album of the 20th century in the U. S, they are the fifth-highest-selling music act and the highest-selling American band in U. S. history. The band released their debut album, Eagles, in 1972, which spawned three top 40 singles: "Take It Easy", "Witchy Woman", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", their next album, was less successful than the first, only reaching number 41 on the charts. However, the album does contain what would go on to be two of the band's most popular tracks: "Desperado" and "Tequila Sunrise"; the band released On the Border in 1974, adding guitarist Don Felder as the fifth member midway through the recording of the album. The album generated two top 40 singles: "Already Gone" and their first number one, "Best of My Love", their 1975 album One of These Nights included three top 10 singles: "One of These Nights", "Lyin' Eyes", "Take It to the Limit", the first hitting the top of the charts. Guitarist and vocalist Joe Walsh joined the band in 1975 replacing Leadon.
The Eagles continued that success and hit their commercial peak in late 1976 with the release of Hotel California, which would go on to sell more than 26 million copies in the U. S. alone and more than 42 million copies worldwide. The album yielded two number-one singles, "New Kid in Town" and "Hotel California". Meisner left the band in 1977 and was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit, they released their last studio album for nearly 28 years in 1979 with The Long Run, which spawned three top 10 singles: "Heartache Tonight", "The Long Run", "I Can't Tell You Why", the lead single being another chart-topping hit. The Eagles disbanded in July 1980 but reunited in 1994 for the album Hell Freezes Over, a mix of live and new studio tracks, they toured and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2007, the Eagles released Long Road Out of Eden, their first full studio album in 28 years and their sixth number-one album; the next year they launched the Long Road Out of Eden Tour in support of the album.
In 2013, they began the extended History of the Eagles Tour in conjunction with the band's documentary release, History of the Eagles. Following Frey's death in January 2016, Henley stated in several interviews that he did not think the band would perform again. However, the Eagles continued performing in 2017, with Deacon Frey and Vince Gill sharing lead vocals for Frey's numbers; the Eagles began in early 1971, when Linda Ronstadt and her then-manager John Boylan recruited local musicians Glenn Frey and Don Henley for her band. Henley had moved to Los Angeles from Texas with his band Shiloh to record an album produced by Kenny Rogers, Frey had come from Michigan and formed Longbranch Pennywhistle. Randy Meisner, working with Ricky Nelson's backing band, the Stone Canyon Band, Bernie Leadon, a veteran of the Flying Burrito Brothers later joined Ronstadt's group of performers for her summer tour promoting the Silk Purse album. While on the tour and Henley decided to form a band together and informed Ronstadt of their intention.
Frey credited Ronstadt with suggesting Leadon for the band, arranging for Leadon to play for her so Frey and Henley could approach him about forming a band together. They pitched the idea to Meisner and brought him on board; these four played live together behind Ronstadt only once for a July concert at Disneyland, but all four appeared on her eponymous album. It was proposed that J. D. Souther should join the band, but Meisner objected; the four were signed in September 1971 to Asylum Records, the new label started by David Geffen, introduced to Frey by Jackson Browne. Geffen bought out Frey's and Henley's contracts with Amos Records, sent the four to Aspen, Colorado to develop as a band. Having not settled on a band name yet, they performed their first show in October 1971 under the name of Teen King and the Emergencies at a club called The Gallery in Aspen; the idea of naming the band "Eagles" came during a peyote and tequila-influenced group outing in the Mojave Desert. Accounts of the origin of the name however vary.
D. Souther suggested that the idea came when Frey shouted out, "Eagles!" when they saw eagles flying above. Steve Martin, a friend of the band from th
