An American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as a co-founder and a member of the Eagles, Glenn Frey, was born in 1948, in Detroit, Michigan.
At age five Frey studied piano, then he started playing guitar. He formed his first band, the Subterraneans, while still in high school.
Frey attended Oakland Community College for a brief period, then decided to move to Los Angeles in the late ‘60s, where he immediately became part of the music scene. There he met future Eagles bandmate Don Henley.
In 1967, Frey formed the Mushrooms with Gary Burrows’ brother Jeff, Bill Barnes, Doug Gunsch, Ken Bash, and Lenny Mintz. That year Frey also met Bob Seger, who helped Frey get a management and recording contract with a label formed by Seger’s management team, Hideout Records.
Seger was a source of inspiration for Frey, and strongly encouraged and influenced him to focus on writing original songs. Frey once said, “I went ‘Well what if they’re bad?’, and he said, ‘Well, they’re gonna be bad, but you just keep writing and keep writing and eventually you’ll write a good song’”.
In 1970, Frey met drummer Don Henley, who was also signed to the same label, Amos Records. At that time, Linda Ronstadt needed a backup band for an upcoming tour, her manager John Boylan hired Frey as he could play rhythm guitar and sing. They also hired Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon.
While on the tour, Frey and Henley decided to form a band together and were joined by Meisner and Leadon, forming the Eagles.
“Glenn used to call Don his secret weapon. He said, ‘I’m gonna do a band with Don. We’re gonna do a band together.’ I said, ‘That’s a great idea.’ So we all talked about it. John said, ‘I can help you do this. I can help you put this band together, and while you’re waiting to get a record deal, you can play with Linda and you can have a gig.’ It was one of those kinds of situations where it was in everybody’s advantage. So I suggested they get Bernie Leadon to play guitar ’cause I liked Bernie and John suggested that they get Randy Meisner, and that’s how the Eagles were formed,” Ronstadt told Billboard about the creation of the Eagles.
Frey co-wrote Hotel California with Henley and Don Felder, and composed a number of the band’s biggest songs on his own, including Heartache Tonight and Lyin’ Eyes.
“Glenn was very spontaneous and uninhibited, he would just sit down with the guitar and start throwing it out there. I was more reserved and introverted, and he certainly encouraged me as a writer and lyricist,” Henley recalled in a 2013 interview with the Telegraph.
The Eagles broke up around 1980 and reunited in 1994, when they released a new album, Hell Freezes Over.
“When the Eagles broke up, people used to ask me and Don, ‘When are the Eagles getting back together?’ We used to answer, ‘When Hell freezes over.’ We thought it was a pretty good joke. People have the misconception that we were fighting a lot. It is not true. We had a lot of fun. We had a lot more fun than I think people realize,” Frey once said.
Frey guest-starred on Miami Vice in the first-season episode “Smuggler’s Blues”, and had a role in the “Dead Dog Records Arc” of Wiseguy. He also guest-starred on Nash Bridges. And in 2002, Frey appeared on HBO‘s Arliss.
On 18th January, 2016, Frey passed away after complications from rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, and pneumonia.
“Words can neither describe our sorrow, nor our love and respect for all that he has given to us,” his family and band members said.
Henley initially felt the band couldn’t continue without Frey, saying that “the Eagles died the day Glenn Frey passed away”.
However, in July 2017 at the Classic West concert at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Glenn’s son, Deacon Frey, joined the band on stage to sing “Take It Easy“. Seeing and hearing Deacon perform led Henley and the remaining members to reconsider, eventually bringing Deacon Frey and Vince Gill into the band to continue the band’s live legacy.
Deacon left the band in 2022, and the band announced the news on their website, saying, “In the wake of his dad’s demise, Deacon, at age 24, did an extraordinary thing by stepping from relative anonymity into the very public world of his father’s long illustrious career. We are grateful to Deacon for his admirable efforts, and we wish him well as he charts his future. Deacon’s Eagles Family will always be here to surround him with love, support and goodwill, and he is always welcome to join us onstage at any future concerts, if he so desires. We hope our fans will join us in wishing Deacon the very best as he moves into the next phase of his career.”
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