Background

Frey was born on November 6, 1948, in Detroit, Michigan. Even as a small child, he showed a keen interest in music and took lessons on piano and guitar.

Education

Growing up in Royal Oak, Michigan, Glenn Frey studied piano at age five, later switched to guitar, and became part of the mid-1960s Detroit rock scene. One of his earliest bands was called the Subterraneans, named after Jack Kerouac's novel, and included fellow Dondero High School classmates Doug Edwards (later replaced by Lenny Mintz) on drums, Doug Gunsch and Bill Barnes on guitar and Jeff Hodge on bass.

Frey also attended Oakland Community College.

Career

In clubs throughout Detroit, Frey cut his teeth as a performer, playing in an array of different rock bands. He even played acoustic guitar on one of Bob Seger's early recordings. Drawn by California's cultural explosion, Frey eventually moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s. There, he immersed himself in the music scene and for a period lived with another up-and-coming musician, Jackson Browne. Frey later credited Browne for helping him become a more disciplined musician.

But it was another friend and roommate, J.D. Souther, who gave Frey his big break when he convinced his then-girlfriend, Linda Ronstadt, to hire Frey and three others, bassist Randy Meisner, guitarist Bernie Leadon, and drummer Don Henley, to work as her backing band for a 1971 tour. When the Ronstadt gig ended, the four musicians decided to continue on as a band and the Eagles were born.

Anchored by Henley and Frey, the Eagles churned out a rolling series of hits during the 1970s. Songs like "Take it Easy," "Already Gone," "Lyin' Eyes," and "Peaceful Easy Feeling," became staples on FM radio. The band reached the apex of its popularity with the 1976 album, Hotel California, and its title track earned them a Grammy for Record of the Year.

That same year, the group released its first compilation album, Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) to unprecedented success. It was the first album ever to be certified platinum, a distinction it earned in just its first week. In all, some 30 million copies of the record have sold in the U.S., second only to Michael Jackson's Thriller. But along with the hits came troubled times for the band. Constant squabbling, especially between Frey and Henley, soon led the Eagles to take a hiatus in 1980.

The group came back together in 1994 for a new album and tour. Both were titled Hell Freezes Over, a name that was inspired by Frey's earlier response to when he was asked if the Eagles might play together again.

On his own, Frey continued to be a prolific songwriter. He released several solo albums, and his hits included "The Heat is On" and "You Belong to the City" recorded for the Beverly Hills Cop (1984) soundtrack as well as the single, "City," for the TV show, Miami Vice. Frey also churned out soundtrack hits for Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Ghostbusters II (1989) and Thelma & Louise (1991). His final solo album, and first in two decades, came in 2012 with the release of After Hours.

In between his music-making, Frey also dabbled in acting. He had a guest appearance on Miami Vice and later on another Don Johnson TV hit, Nash Bridges. In 1993, he starred in the short-lived series, South of Sunset. In addition, he had a meaty role as Arizona Cardinals general manager Dennis Wilburn in the 1996 Tom Cruise hit, Jerry Maguire.

In the later decades of his life, Frey battled a variety of health issues. A 1990 attempt to reunite the Eagles was postponed because the guitarist had to have part of his intestines removed. In early 2016, Frey was severely ill as a result of complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia. He died on January 18, 2016, at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. In December 2016, The Eagles were celebrated at the 39th Kennedy Center Honors. At the ceremony, Vince Gill performed "Easy Feeling" as a special tribute to Frey.

Achievements

• 

  As a member of the Eagles, Frey won six Grammy Awards, and five American Music Awards. The Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the first year they were nominated. Consolidating his solo recordings and those with the Eagles, Frey had 24 Top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

Works

More photos

• music

  • Allnighter

    ( )

    1974
  • Eagles 1972
  • Desperado 1973
  • On The Border 1974
  • One Of These Nights by Eagles 1975
  • Hotel California 1976
  • Eagles, The Long Run 1979
  • No Fun Aloud 1982
  • Soul Searchin' 1988
  • Strange Weather 1992
  • Long Road Out Of Eden 2007
  • After Hours 2012

Views

Quotations: "Without a reunion, the Eagles are forever young, like James Dean."

"There are only those certain people where things click - at least for me."

"That's what I miss out of all this synthesized music - it starts to lose dynamics."

"Somebody asked my friend Bob Seger, Why do you think the Eagles broke up? He said, Hotel California."

"Some people, they just don't get a joke."

"Nobody told Don Henley or me that we were going to make it as solo artists, but I can speak for Don when I say that we are both really happy now that the band is not together."

"I've read somewhere that when you're writing, you should stop while you're doing well so you always want to go back to work."

Personality

Frey was a perfectionist. "Glenn, I think, took three days in the studio on the word 'city' at the beginning of 'Lyin' Eyes'," the guitarist Don Felder, who joined the band in the mid-1970s, recalled. "It would either be a little early, or a little late, or the "T" would be too sharp. It literally took a long time to get that word-perfect - maybe to an extreme."

Behind the scenes, however, the Eagles conformed to a more traditional rock'n'roll stereotype. Frey once described their career in the 1970s as "got crazy, got drunk, got high, had girls, played music and made money.''

Quotes from others about the person

• "He had an encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and a work ethic that wouldn’t quit. He was funny, bullheaded, mercurial, generous, deeply talented and driven. He loved his wife and kids more than anything. We are all in a state of shock, disbelief and profound sorrow." - Don Henley

Connections

Frey was married to Janie Beggs from 1983 to 1988. He married his second wife, Cindy Millican Frey in 1990 until his death, and they had three children - daughter Taylor, and sons Deacon and Otis.

ex-wife:

Janie Beggs

Wife:

Cindy Millican Frey

Daughter:

Taylor Frey

Son:

Deacon Frey

Son:

Otis Frey

Friend:

Bob Seger

colleague:

Linda Ronstadt

References

• To the Limit: The Untold Story of the Eagles
• Glenn Frey Unauthorized & Uncensored
• ROLLING STONE 2016 SPECIAL EDITION - THE EAGLES : THE ULTIMATE GUIDE - DON HENLEY on The Making of Every Album, The 40 Greatest Songs, GLENN FREY