Glen Frey, an Eagle says goodbye

Somebody must be putting up a big music festival up there in the heavens and has need of the best and the brightest stars. How else would you explain having to write three obituary pieces in a scant three weeks? Natalie Cole went first. She was followed by David Bowie. And now Glen Frey of the great, biggest-selling American band The Eagles has also said goodbye.

According to a statement from the Eagles organization, Frey, 67, died of complications from pneumonia, rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis after undergoing intestinal surgery. The band was supposed to receive the Kennedy Center Honors last December but this was deferred to a later date because of Frey’s illness. I am sure the event will push through as planned late this year but it will not be the same without him around.

Founding members Frey and drummer Don Henley started out together in a band playing music for a Linda Ronstadt tour in 1971. The tour ended but Frey and Henley, plus bassist Randy Meisner and guitarist Bernie Leadon, stayed to form a group. Don Felder was two years later.

The two friends jointly fronted the Eagles throughout its remarkable career from the early ‘70s through to the ‘80s and across the 14-year break, that was fortunately broken in 1994 with the release of Hell Freezes Over. This was followed in 2007 by what is now the last album the Eagles ever recorded, The Long Road Out Of Eden.  

Frey played all types of guitar, piano and keyboards. He sang lead vocals for the group and it is his soulful tenor that you hear in songs like New Kid In Town, Heartache Tonight, Take It Easy, Peaceful Easy Feeling, Tequila Sunrise, Already Gone, Lyin’ Eyes, How Long, some of which he also wrote. 

Others that he had a hand in or where he sang duet with Henley were Hotel California, Life In The Fast Lane, Desperado, I Can’t Tell You Why, The Long Run, Take It To The Limit, One Of These Nights, Best Of My Love, Witchy Woman and others.

The Eagles combined rock ‘n roll, rhythm ‘n blues and country with sweet-folksy harmonies to produce their sound. This was first known as folk rock or country rock. As the hits started coming in the mid-‘70s and California took to claiming the band the Eagles sound became California rock. 

Nobody knew what California rock was but it soon became immaterial because as the band’s popularity soared worldwide, it changed into arena rock. That is because they could fill up arenas and the term soon came to encompass all types of sound that played to the arena crowd. Worldwide, the sound of the Eagles was the sound of America, an amalgam of several but uniquely its own.

In 1999, the album The Eagles Greatest Hits was honored by the Record Industry Association of America as the Bestselling Album of the Century. It has so far sold over 42 million copies. The other Eagles biggie is Hotel California with 32 million in sales. All in all, the group has already sold some 150 million records. These guys have six No. 1 albums, lots of hit singles and some Grammys and American Music Awards trophies and are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Frey’s fame though does not rest solely on his work with the Eagles.  When the band took a break in 1980, Frey turned solo and was remarkably successful. Writing with Jack Tempchin, he came up with hit songs like The One You Love, Smuggler’s Blues, Sexy Girl, True Love, Soul Searchin’ and Livin’ Right. The biggest of them all though were The Heat Is On in the soundtrack of the blockbuster flick starring Eddie Murphy, Beverly Hills Cop, and You Belong To The City for the hit TV show that starred Don Johnson, Miami Vice.

Frey (rightmost) with the rest of the band on the cover of the US magazine Rolling Stone in 1979

Tall and attractive, Frey also dabbled in acting in films and television. Among his notable appearances were as Cuba Gooding’s stingy boss in Jerry Maguire and as a politician running for re-election on HBO’s Arli$$.

Speaking of appearances, now is a good time for fans and even non-fans of the Eagles to check out the much-lauded documentary The History of the Eagles. This band has quite a story and Glen Frey is one of its stars.