Without him, the Eagles would never have existed: Together with Don Henley, Glenn Frey was responsible for the legendary American band’s defining sound. We take a look at his eventful life.
Glenn Lewis Frey was born on November 6, 1948 in Detroit, Michigan, the oldest of three children. At the age of five, Frey began taking piano lessons before switching to the guitar.
Glenn Frey: First musical attempts
He founded the band The Subterraneans with high school friends. After finishing school, he joined the group The Four of Us in 1966. A year later he formed a new band, Mushrooms, whose first single “Such a Lovely Child” was produced by Bob Seger. Seger even wanted to recruit Frey for his band. However, this failed because Frey’s mother did not allow this because she had caught her son using cannabis.
In 1968, Frey played guitar and sang background vocals on Seger’s hit “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man.” Frey began writing his own songs. In 1969 he moved to Los Angeles. There he founded the duo Longbranch Pennywhistle together with JD Souther, which released an album of the same name. There he met Jackson Browne, who would become an important influence for him.
Founding of the Eagles
In 1970, Glenn Frey met Don Henley at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles – a momentous encounter. Both were signed to Amos Records at the time and were hired by Linda Ronstadt’s manager for their touring band. Also part of the group were Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner. Frey and Henley soon decided to form their own band. The Eagles were born. Frey was initially pleased that Don Felder joined. Frey recalled enthusiastically: “I’ve been a Don Felder fan for about a year and a half. Ever since I heard him play one night in a dressing room in Boston. I later saw him at a concert in Los Angeles and asked him if he could do some slide guitar on ‘Good Day in Hell.’
Glenn Frey’s difficult relationship with Don Felder
Later, it was the difficult relationship between Frey and Felder that caused the band to implode. Frey played guitar, keyboards and took on the role of co-lead singer. He wrote or co-wrote many of the band’s hits, including “Take It Easy,” “Tequila Sunrise” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling.” The Eagles enjoyed great international success with albums such as “Hotel California” (1976) and “One of These Nights” (1975).
While Frey was initially impressed with Felder, this soon turned into a heated argument. The two had an extremely difficult relationship. The conflict escalated during a concert in Long Beach, California, which later became known as “Long Night at Wrong Beach.” During the performance, Frey and Felder threatened to hit each other, and things didn’t get any better after the show. The band broke up in 1980. The Eagles reunion took place in 1994 and Frey remained in the band until his death. Felder was fired again in 2001, and a long-term legal dispute followed.
Career as an actor
Glenn Frey was also active as an actor. “How long will I be able to go on stage and play rock ‘n’ roll and look young and alive? Acting is something I can do until the day I die. Instead of my life consisting of going on tour, coming home, resting, writing songs, rehearsing, recording albums and touring again, I have acting projects. My life is much more interesting that way,” he told the in 1986 Interview Magazine.
In 1985, he played the role of drug smuggler Jimmy Cole in the episode “Smuggler’s Blues” on the TV series “Miami Vice”. With the song of the same name, Schuf Frey also created the soundtrack for the episode. He also appeared in the series “Wiseguy” and had a supporting role in the film “Jerry Maguire”.
He himself said of his acting: “I don’t consider myself an actor,” he told the Chicago Tribune. “I’m a student on a full scholarship. I’m learning to act in a television series. My learning curve is very dramatic. I’m improving by leaps and bounds. I could have gone to Nashville and made another rock record. If I fail as an actor, I haven’t failed.”
Glenn Frey’s solo albums
In 1984 he contributed the song “The Heat Is On” to the soundtrack of “Beverly Hills Cop”. Glenn Frey released a total of five solo albums. His debut album, No Fun Aloud, was released on May 28, 1982 on Asylum Records and reached number 32 on the US charts. More long players followed. After a nearly 20-year hiatus, Frey released his fifth and final studio album, After Hours, on May 8, 2012. In the USA he clearly missed the top 100.
Private life
He himself saw his career low point in the 1980s. Frey, who, like his bandmates, was quite fond of alcohol and drugs, turned his life around. “There was a point in the mid-’80s where I took a look at myself – not so much my career, but my life in general – and thought, ‘Hmmm, I’m really not doing very well.’ I saw a failed marriage, drug and alcohol problems,” he said in one interview. “So I thought I’d better change my lifestyle. It wasn’t a dramatic moment of getting on my knees and going to Alcoholics Anonymous with a toothbrush, but simply a quiet decision and determination to change.”
Glenn Frey was married twice. His first marriage, to Janie Beggs, an artist from Texas, lasted five years (from 1983 to 1988). In 1990 he married Cindy Millican, a dancer and choreographer. Frey had three children with her: a daughter, Taylor, and two sons, Deacon (who played with the Eagles for a time after his death) and Otis. The two remained together until Frey’s death.
illness and death
Frey died on January 18, 2016 in New York from complications of colon and pneumonia. He had suffered increasing health problems in recent years, including rheumatoid arthritis, colitis and pneumonia. After his death, tributes poured in, only Joe Walsh remained silent for a week. Then his colleague piped up to say, “It’s not that I can’t find words, it’s that there are no words. I’ve tried and all I have is a blank page. That’s how I feel. That’s how we all feel. Maybe I’ll think of something later, but not now. Thank you for your kind and intelligent overview, and thank you to everyone who has also chimed in. I keep coming back to one of Glenn’s favorite ways of summing things up: ‘Ladies and.’ Gentlemen……..Elvis has left the building.’”