Bernie Speaks! A new interview with Mr. Leadon

[chaim]

Eh, to me, Glenn's vocals were spot on from the first record through LROOE. And certainly live until the very end. Maybe the trouble he was having was before they ever recorded anything. He never seemed to have problems with his voice or any trouble hitting the notes, even on the HOTE tour. Where as Don has had to lower the key of some of his songs both Eagles and solo. Again, not a bad thing, but I think it's fair to say Glenn was very bit as good of a singer as Don, just different. But equal. There is more to singing than technicality or sheer range. Tonality is way more important IMO and Glenn had excellent tone and pitch.

Well said, chaim!

Well, "struggled" was perhaps a bit too much, but I remember Glenn or somebody else saying that in the early days Glenn had to concentrate to sing in tune. Indeed I don't recall if this happened before the Eagles recorded anything or if it still went on when they started recording.

[New Kid In Town]

Well, "struggled" was perhaps a bit too much, but I remember Glenn or somebody else saying that in the early days Glenn had to concentrate to sing in tune. Indeed I don't recall if this happened before the Eagles recorded anything or if it still went on when they started recording.

Hi Chaim ! That somebody was Felder in his book. I love Glenn's voice. However, I do think Randy had the best voice/vocals of all seven Eagles. In MHO, Don and Glenn were both great - just different. I also think Bernie has a nice voice. He was not giving himself enough credit for his voice. Felder stated in his book how worried they were about replacing Bernie with Joe and how Joe's voice would blend in. Bernie really helped make those Harmonies special.

[Scarlet Sun]

Well, "struggled" was perhaps a bit too much, but I remember Glenn or somebody else saying that in the early days Glenn had to concentrate to sing in tune. Indeed I don't recall if this happened before the Eagles recorded anything or if it still went on when they started recording.

Yes it's true, watch DKRC in '74. Glenn himself said he wasn't a very good singer Musici​an magazine in '82. Plus his "I had be in tune - all in time" quote regarding his role changing after Joe joined.

[Delilah]

I love Glenn’s voice. He’s one of my favorite male vocalists ever. His voice was the only one I instantly recognized as an Eagle’s when they all went solo. But having a great voice is not necessarily the same thing as being a great singer.

Bernie said in the interview that he and Glenn were “pretty good” singers and Don and Randy were “superior.” I believe that’s a fair assessment that is rather consistent with what other people who were part of the scene and in the studio have said, including David Geffen, Felder, Henley, J.D. Souther and Glenn himself.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Well - I guess this is all a matter of perspective. I am totally uninformed about the technical aspects of what qualifies someone as a great singer. I can only say this - the song's that Don H. and Glenn sang were consistently the biggest hits and most popular and well-loved Eagles songs. Now, part of that can probably be attributed to songwriting, lyrics, harmonies, arrangements, and music. However, I don't think it's an accident that Glenn's song were among the most well-loved. Again, I don't know if Glenn was 'technically' a great singer or not, but I don't think that there's any doubt that his vocals had wide massive appeal among the general public. And he managed to sing at a very high level up until and including his last public performance. So, if you measure a singer by their long-term success, I think Glenn qualifies as a great singer. My own theory is that his voice had one of those intangible qualities that can't be measured. People just loved it.

[sodascouts]

Yeah, I guess it's basically how you define "good" singer that's the sticking point. When I think of it, I include singers who have tones to their voices that I really love, like Glenn. But if you're defining it as singers who have an impressive vocal range - who can hit those high notes, as Bernie puts it - or a similar type of criteria, then that would exclude singers like Glenn and Bernie. It seems that's where Bernie is coming from.

[chaim]

What I'm saying here is based on what I've heard somebody else say, not my own observations. But I can understand that, even though he already had that great, unique voice, he may have had to work on singing in tune more than Don and Randy. Again, I don't recall hearing out-of-tune singing from him, but it has been said that he had to work at it.

In the following recollection I'm not comparing Peter Criss to Glenn, but it is possible that a person with a great voice has to work on something in his singing. Gene Simmons once said that Peter Criss probably had the greatest voice (the pure voice that comes out of his mouth) out of all the Kiss members, but he couldn't control it. He always had pitch problems. But people liked his voice and Beth, which he sang, was the most popular Kiss song in the 70's. But I believe Peter still has pitch problems, whereas Glenn certainly got over whatever difficulties he MAY have had in the beginning and he certainly was a great singer.

Basically all I'm saying here is that Bernie's words support what I've read before. Who knows, maybe Bernie witnessed Glenn working on his singing in the early days. Glenn's voice is probably the reason I fell in love with the band, so personally I don't have issues with his singing in the early years!

[WalshFan88]

Yeah, I guess it's basically how you define "good" singer that's the sticking point. When I think of it, I include singers who have tones to their voices that I really love, like Glenn. But if you're defining it as singers who have an impressive vocal range - who can hit those high notes, as Bernie puts it - or a similar type of criteria, then that would exclude singers like Glenn and Bernie. It seems that's where Bernie is coming from.

Agreed. There is more to singing than range. Glenn had a great voice and was a great singer/vocalist. He was both. Equal to Don.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I get what you are saying, chaim, and acknowledge that Glenn may have needed to do some work to train his voice. However, that's not what I took from Bernie's comment. He really doesn't qualify his remark, so it comes across as him saying that Don H. and Randy were superior singers to Glenn and that is what I take issue with. It's all subjective, but I disagree with that 100%. All I can say is if Glenn did have to train his voice, he sure succeeded. IMO, Glenn's vocal skills were different from Don's, but I believe he was Henley's equal as a 'great singer'. As a matter of fact, many fans, including me, prefer his voice over Don's.

[Brooke]

All I can add is after listening to Glenn's After Hours cd, I think his voice was as good as it ever was and I think it was pretty much perfect on that cd. I don't know how he could have been any better. I don't know anything about singing or all the technical stuff, but....just listen to him.....Really!