LOS ANGELES — J.D. Souther, the singer and songwriter who co-wrote twangy yet debonair hits for the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt that helped define the Southern California country-rock sound of the mid-1970s, has died. He was 78.
His death was confirmed by a representative for the Eagles, who said Souther died at his home in New Mexico without specifying a cause or saying when he died. The musician was due to launch a tour next week in Phoenix.
Souther — whose best-known songs included the Eagles’ “ New Kid in Town” and “ Heartache Tonight,” Ronstadt’s “ Faithless Love” and his own “You’re Only Lonely,” which gave him a top 10 pop hit in 1979 — was also an actor with roles on TV’s “Thirtysomething” and “Nashville” and in movies including “My Girl 2” and “Postcards From the Edge.” Among the other acts who recorded his songs were Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, George Strait and the Dixie Chicks.
In January, Souther performed onstage with the Eagles at Inglewood’s Kia Forum, where Don Henley introduced him as part of the “tightknit community of songwriters and singers” that he and the Eagles’ Glenn Frey would turn to in the ‘70s “when we would get stuck on a song or we’d try to start some new material.” He added that Souther was partially responsible for three of the Eagles’ five No. 1 singles, which also included “ Best of My Love,” a tender, harmony-drenched ballad about a guy “lying in bed, holding you close in my dreams/ Thinking about all the things that we said, and coming apart at the seams.”
