The Unexpected Disneyland Concert That Created One Of Rock History's Biggest Bands

In 1971, Disneyland hosted a musical performance that not only showcased rising country-rock star Linda Ronstadt, but also incubated the establishment of one of the best-selling acts ever. The Eagles dominated the '70s with ease, becoming one of the rock bands with the most Billboard hits of that decade, and they first came together to play behind Ronstadt.

Populated with denizens of Los Angeles' overlapping singer-songwriter, country, and rock 'n' roll scenes of the early 1970s, the founding members of the Eagles found musical common ground when they were plucked from relative obscurity to be a part of Ronstadt's backing band, a job which included a gig at the "Grad Nite" festival at Disneyland for LA high school students staged inside "The Happiest Place on Earth" in 1971. In 2016, Ronstadt told the LA Times, "You'd play a 20-minute set, then be off for three or four hours, then play another 20 minutes — there was a lot of time to kill between sets." That concert and the subsequent time Glenn Fry and Don Henley spent together as Ronstadt's backing band were the catalyst for the Eagles' formation.

Linda Ronstadt's album producer of choice in the early '70s was the well-connected John Boylan. When the singer booked a slot on a Disneyland concert stage in 1971, she employed Boylan's help in assembling a proper backup band. According to what Ronstadt told Billboard, first, they went for Don Henley. Ronstadt had turned down his original songs, but she'd witnessed and enjoyed his live drumming enough to have Boylan make an offer. The pair also hired Glenn Frey, whom Ronstadt knew from Longbranch Pennywhistle, a duo formed by her romantic partner, J.D. Souther.

Financial considerations forced Henley and Frey to share a room on the road between concerts, like the Disneyland show, and they impressed one another with their vocal and songwriting abilities. Then Frey delivered the news. "He said, 'I'm gonna do a band with Don. We're gonna do a band together.' I said, 'That's a great idea,'" Ronstadt recalled in Billboard. Boylan offered to help the duo flesh out their group, in exchange for them staying in Ronstadt's band for a little while. "It was one of those kinds of situations where it was in everybody's advantage," Ronstadt added. She also recommended that they get Bernie Leadon of the Flying Burrito Brothers, as he'd been in her band before leaving to join the FBB. Boylan suggested they get bassist and guitarist Randy Meisner, and those four musicians became the first lineup of a band that called itself the Eagles in 1971.