JD Souther, a songwriter whose collaborations with The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor helped define the Laurel Canyon-Southern California country-tinged rock sound of the 1970s, has died. He was 78.
According to a message posted last night on his official website, Souther died peacefully at his home in New Mexico. Neither a cause nor a date of death was given.
Born John David Souther – he went by JD, sans periods, throughout nearly all of his professional career – Souther was born in Detroit, raised in Amarillo, Texas, and moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s, where he soon, and fortuitously, formed a band called Longbranch Pennywhistle with musician-songwriter Glenn Frey. The two would continue their songwriting collaboration even after Frey went on to cofound The Eagles, one of the most successful rock bands in history.
Together, Souther and Frey would contribute some of the Eagles’ most enduring and beloved songs, including “Best of My Love,” “James Dean” and “New Kid in Town.” With Frey, Eagles bandmate Don Henley and rocker Bob Seger, Souther wrote “Heartache Tonight,” a #1 hit for The Eagles in 1979 that capped a decade of the band’s massive popularity and influence.
A cornerstone of the early ’70s Los Angeles music scene centered around the rustic yet posh Laurel Canyon area and The Troubadour bar in West Hollywood, Souther collaborated with or merely befriended some of the most impactful musicians of the era, including Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, James Taylor, Randy Newman, Poco, The Flying Burrito Brothers and a young singer from Tucson, Arizona named Linda Ronstadt. Souther and Ronstadt would become a couple during those years, though their musical collaborations and lifelong friendship would outlast the romance.
Among other projects, Souther co-produced her 1973 album Don’t Cry Now, writing several songs for the record including the title tune. He would continue writing songs for, and occasionally singing duets with, the singer throughout her country-rock stardom of the 1970s, including numbers for her albums Heart Like A Wheel and Living In The USA.
Although he’d primarily be recognized for his songwriting skills – he wrote tunes for, among others Bonnie Raitt, and in 1981 collaborated and sang with James Taylor on the hit “Her Town, Too” – Souther would also enjoy his own performing career. In the early ’70s he formed the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, a sort of Eagles-like supergroup with the Byrds’ Chris Hillman and Poco’s Richie Furay. Though the trio would never achieve the heights of the more popular Troubadour groups, its two albums included the 1974 hit “Fallin’ In Love,” which received considerable play on FM radio.
In 1979, Souther had his first and only hit as a solo artist with the song “You’re Only Lonely,” reaching #1 on Adult Contemporary radio.
Souther, who also had a sideline career as an actor, appearing on such TV series as thirtysomething, Nashville and Purgatory and in films including Postcards from the Edge, never stopped writing and performing – at the time of his death he was set to embark on a tour with the singer Karla Bonoff.
According to his website, Souther is survived by two sisters, and his former wife and her daughter.
