Joe Walsh

Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In a career spanning more than forty years, he has been a member of five successful rock bands: James Gang, Barnstorm, Eagles, the Party Boys, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. Walsh was also part of the New Zealand band Herbs. In the 1990's, he was a member of the short-lived supergroup the Best.

Personal life Joe Walsh has been married five times. He was married briefly to Margie Walsh in the 1960's, to Stefany Rhodes from 1971 to 1978, to Juanita Boyer from 1980 to 1988, and to Denise Driscoll from 1999 to 2006. Walsh married Marjorie Bach (sister of Barbara Bach and sister-in-law of Ringo Starr) in Los Angeles on December 13, 2008.

Walsh's daughter [Lucy Walsh] is also a musician who has worked with Ashlee Simpson and others. She released her debut solo album, Lost in the Lights, in spring 2007.

Walsh's eldest daughter, Emma Kristen, was born in 1971 and died in 1974 at 3 years of age as a result of injuries suffered in an automobile accident on her way to nursery school. Her story inspired the track "Song For Emma" on Walsh's solo album So What released later that year. In her memory, he had a fountain and memorial plaque placed in a park in which she played: North Boulder Park in Boulder, Colorado. He has said that the album name So What was a result of Emma's death: that nothing else seemed meaningful or important in the months that followed. The strain eventually contributed to Walsh's divorce from his second wife Stefany. While touring with singer Stevie Nicks in 1984, Walsh took Nicks to the park's fountain; Nicks subsequently immortalized this story in her song "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?" on her 1985 album Rock A Little. When discussing their relationship, Nicks stated in a 2007 interview with the UK's The Daily Telegraph that Walsh had been "the great love of my life".

Walsh admits to having struggled with alcohol and drug addictions for most of his early career and has been in recovery since 1993. In 1989 while touring with New Zealand band Herbs, Walsh experienced an "epiphany" during a visit to an ancient Māori pā site in the Hawke's Bay region. In 2004 on a return visit to New Zealand, Walsh described the experience and referred to it as the beginning of his recovery from his addiction. Walsh related the story that in 1994 he woke up after blacking out on an airplane to Paris. When he arrived, he had his passport, but did not remember getting on the plane. That was his turning point, and he has been sober ever since.

While living in New York City, Walsh began a lifelong interest in amateur radio. Walsh holds an Amateur Extra Class Amateur Radio License, and his station callsign is WB6ACU. In 2006 he donated an autographed guitar to the ARRL in Newington, Connecticut, for its charity auction. He has also been involved with the group's "Big Project," which brings amateur radio into schools. Walsh has included Morse Code messages in his albums on two occasions: once on the album Barnstorm ("Register and Vote"), and later on Songs for a Dying Planet ("Register and Vote for Me"). Walsh provides the theme song (which includes Morse code) for the TWiT podcast Ham Nation (debuting in 2011), and he appeared as a guest in the first podcast.