On this day (July 19) in 1947, Bernie Leadon was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist is best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Before that, he was a session musician and a member of multiple influential country rock groups. After leaving the band, he continued working in the studio and released a handful of solo albums.
Leadon’s family relocated to San Diego, California, when he was 10 years old. There, he joined the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, which also featured future Byrds bassist and Leadon’s lifelong friend Chris Hillman.
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According to AllMusic, Leadon joined Hearts and Flowers in the mid-60s. He appeared on the country-folk group’s sophomore outing, Of Horses, Kids, and Forgotten Women. When it failed to garner national attention, the group disbanded. This led Leadon to form the country rock outfit Dillard & Clark with Doug Dillard and Gene Clark (Byrds). He left the group after appearing on two albums and spent a short time in Linda Ronstadt’s backing band, The Corvettes, taking Jeff Hanna’s place.
Bernie Leadon Went from Burritos to Eagles
Chris Hillman reached out to Bernie Leadon in 1969 and invited him to join his new band, the Flying Burrito Brothers. Hillman began building the group with his fellow former Byrd, Gram Parsons.
Leadon joined the band and recorded Burrito Deluxe and The Flying Burrito Bros. He also appeared on the live LP, Last of the Red Hot Burritos. While the band was influential and popular within California’s country rock scene, they failed to find mainstream success. As a result, Leadon left the band to join a group with three members of the Corvettes–Glenn Frey, Don Henley, and Randy Meisner.
The Eagles came together in 1971, with Leadon lending his experience with country music and bluegrass to help shape their early sound. When the band started leaning to a more rock-focused sound, Leadon suggested that they ad his longtime friend Don Felder to the lineup.
After finishing the tour supporting the band’s 1975 album One of These Nights, Leadon left the band. Many point to their transition to a harder rock sound as the reason for his departure. However, that’s not really the case. “That’s an oversimplification,” he told Rolling Stone in 2013. “It implies that I had no interest in rock or blues or anything but country rock. That’s just not the case. I didn’t just play Fender Telecaster. I played Gibson Les Paul, and I enjoyed rock and roll. That’s evident from the early albums,” he added. Then, he revealed the final straw that led to his departure. “I suggested we take some time off. They weren’t excited about that idea.”
Later Career
After leaving the Eagles, he formed The Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades Band with his old friend. They released their sole album, Natural Progressions in 1977. Leadon has since released two solo albums. Mirror came in 2004 and Too Late to Be Cool dropped in 2025.
In the 1980s, he formed the band Ever Call Ready with Chris Hillman and Al Perkins and released one album. Leadon also spent a few years in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the second half of the decade.
Leadon also worked as a session musician for decades. His earliest known session was for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1968 album Rare Junk. Over the years, he recorded with Linda Ronstadt, Gram Parsons, Randy Newman, Emmylou Harris, Chris Hillman, Alabama, Kenny Rogers, Hank Williams Jr., Travis Tritt, David Crosby, and the Jayhawks, among others.
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