J.D. Souther Dies at 78
J.D. Souther, the singer-songwriter who co-wrote songs for the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt, has died. He was 78.
Souther’s death was confirmed by his reps, who said he died at his home in New Mexico. A cause of death was not disclosed.
Souther has co-writing credits on Eagles classics like “Heartache Tonight,” “Best of My Love,” “New Kid in Town” and “Victim of Love.” (Despite being asked to join the Eagles, Souther famously refused.) He became friends with Glenn Frey after moving to Los Angeles. While in LA, Souther met Ronstadt, and the two dated briefly in the ’70s.
When Frey inducted Ronstadt into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, he recalled, “I first met Linda in 1970 at the Troubadour bar. For my part, it was love at first sight. There was just one problem: The guitar-slinging love wrestler from Amarillo, Texas named John David Souther. He beat me to the punch, which would become a pattern throughout our careers. Thank God he never met my wife.”
Souther made a number of contributions to Ronstadt’s career, from co-producing her fourth album, 1973’s Don’t Cry Now, to writing songs for her, including “Faithless Love,” “Prisoner in Disguise” and “White Rhythm and Blues.” Souther and Ronstadt also many duets together, including the Urban Cowboy soundtrack song “Hearts Against the Wind.”
In addition to his work with other artists — including Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor and Roy Orbison — Souther recorded nine solo albums in his career from 1972 to 2015. His biggest hit came in 1979 with “You’re Only Lonely.”
Souther also dabbled in acting and had multi-episode arcs in Thirtysomething and Nashville. He also has film credits in Postcards from the Edge and My Girl 2.
While Souther wasn’t a “rock star” in the traditional sense, his songwriting credits earned him plenty of royalties. He touched on that in an interview with the Creative Independent (h/t Variety). Souther said people would often ask him if he was annoyed with the Eagles because of the success they gained off of his songs. He would then make a quip about the size of the royalty checks he receives.
Souther noted, “Even Glenn Frey once said — and he was kind of joking because he knows how the royalty thing works — but he said, ‘One of the reasons JD didn’t have a bigger solo career is because he gave us or Linda Ronstadt most of his best songs.’ And that’s sort of true. The closest I got to being really famous was during the ‘You’re Only Lonely’ period, and I really didn’t like it that much, frankly. It’s a relief in some ways, though it also doesn’t pay quite as well.”