Joe Walsh got his first guitar as a ten-year-old at the time Buddy was dominating the charts in 1957. Inspired by Buddy’s music, Joe began exploring the local Ohio music scene and a few years later became a member of a local garage band the Measles. He was networking hard and somehow managed to get a couple of songs recorded on the debut album by a neighbourhood bubble-gum group Ohio Express, who had just scored a worldwide smash with ‘Yummy Yummy Yummy’! It was the first major step on the pathway that took him to stardom.

The following year, fellow Ohio band the Lemon Pipers went into the charts with the hippie anthem ‘Green Tambourine’, and, through his contacts with them and others, Joe found his way to the Hit Factory studios in New York. He was just beginning his career as front man with power-trio the James Gang, creating their ground-breaking debut LP ‘Yer Album’ in 1969 and an instant reputation as one of the first truly great American rock bands.

Joe’s heavy, riff-laden guitar style was a sensation and when the James Gang supported the Who at a local concert in Cleveland, Pete Townshend was impressed beyond belief. He immediately signed the band to support the Who on their upcoming tour of Britain, an itinerary which included a gig at the Hammersmith Palais in 1970. I was there! Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton also became big fans and international recognition followed.

Inevitably, Joe soon cut loose from the framework of the group, creating three powerful barnstorming albums which I featured on repeat on my early 1970s BBC radio shows. These were albums for the ages. Joe and his co-producer Bill Szymczyk sculpted a brilliant, distinctive, dramatic, multi-layered, swirling wall of sound, and when Bill was recruited by the Eagles to work with them on their upcoming Hotel California album, the band invited Joe to go with him. He arrived just in time to record the title track and play one of the most iconic dual-guitar solos ever recorded. It was a career-defining moment.

Don Henley initially thought Joe might be too wild for the Eagles laid-back California sound and the band certainly went through various tensions over the years. But Joe remains an essential member to this day, cutting an enduring, endearing, buccaneering figure … blond hair bright in the spotlight, face contorted through the riffs and the roughshod, loving the solos on ‘Life In The Fast Lane’, ‘Life’s Been Good’ and more.

Over the years Joe has played with Ringo Starr, the Beach Boys, Bob Seger, Steve Winwood and countless other world class musicians. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Bob Harris