Glenn Frey — Eagles Guitarist Dead At 67
Glenn Frey, a founding member and guitarist of the Eagles, has died … TMZ has learned.
Frey had been battling intestinal issues for months and had surgery in November. We’re told in the last few days his condition took a turn for the worse.
Glenn was a key player in the band … co-writing and singing lead vocals on several Eagles hits, including “Take It Easy,” “Tequila Sunrise,” “Lyin’ Eyes,” and “Heartache Tonight,” to name a few. He also co-wrote “Hotel California” and “Desperado” with Don Henley and took home 6 Grammys with the band.
After the Eagles’ 1980 breakup, Glenn launched a successful solo career recording numerous hits,most notably “The Heat Is On,” which appeared on the soundtrack to the Eddie Murphy blockbuster “Beverly Hills Cop.”
He reunited with the Eagles in ’94 for their monster Hell Freezes Over tour and recorded music till the end, releasing what would be his fifth and final solo LP, “After Hours,” in 2012.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer had been fighting intestinal issues for awhile but his condition relapsed before the holidays, forcing the Eagles to pull out of their Kennedy Center Honors appearance in December. At the time, the band said he needed major surgery that would require a lengthy recovery, but it appears he was never able to bounce back.
Glenn was 67. RIP.
…the passing of our comrade, Eagles founder, Glenn Frey, in New York City on Monday, January 18th, 2016.
Glenn fought a courageous battle for the past several weeks but, sadly, succumbed to complications from Rheumatoid Arthritis, Acute Ulcerative Colitis and Pneumonia.
The Frey family would like to thank everyone who joined Glenn to fight this fight and hoped and prayed for his recovery.
Words can neither describe our sorrow, nor our love and respect for all that he has given to us, his family, the music community & millions of fans worldwide.
Cindy Frey | Taylor Frey | Deacon Frey | Otis Frey|
Don Henley | Joe Walsh | Timothy B. Schmit | Bernie Leadon | Irving Azoff
“It’s Your World Now”
Written by Glenn Frey and Jack Tempchin
From the Eagles’ Long Road Out of Eden album
A perfect day, the sun is sinkin’ low
As evening falls, the gentle breezes blow
The time we shared went by so fast
Just like a dream, we knew it couldn’t last
But I’d do it all again
If I could, somehow
But I must be leavin’ soon
It’s your world now
It’s your world now
My race is run
I’m moving on
Like the setting sun
No sad goodbyes
No tears allowed
You’ll be alright
It’s your world now
Even when we are apart
You’ll always be in my heart
When dark clouds appear in the sky
Remember true love never dies
But first a kiss, one glass of wine
Just one more dance while there’s still time
My one last wish: someday, you’ll see
How hard I tried and how much you meant to me
It’s your world now
Use well your time
Be part of something good
Leave something good behind
The curtain falls
I take my bow
That’s how it’s meant to be
It’s your world now
It’s your world now
It’s your world now
Glenn Frey, Eagles guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, passed away Monday. He was 67. “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our comrade, Eagles founder, Glenn Frey, in New York City on Monday, January 18th, 2016. Glenn fought a courageous battle for the past several weeks but, sadly, succumbed to complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia,” the Eagles wrote in a statement Monday.
In a separate statement, Don Henley said of Frey, “He was like a brother to me; we were family, and like most families, there was some dysfunction. But, the bond we forged 45 years ago was never broken, even during the 14 years that the Eagles were dissolved. We were two young men who made the pilgrimage to Los Angeles with the same dream: to make our mark in the music industry — and with perseverance, a deep love of music, our alliance with other great musicians and our manager, Irving Azoff, we built something that has lasted longer than anyone could have dreamed. But, Glenn was the one who started it all. He was the spark plug, the man with the plan.”
Henley continued, “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 is wife and kids more than anything. We are all in a state of shock, disbelief and profound sorrow. We brought our two-year History of the Eagles Tour to a triumphant close at the end of July and now he is gone. I’m not sure I believe in fate, but I know that crossing paths with Glenn Lewis Frey in 1970 changed my life forever, and it eventually had an impact on the lives of millions of other people all over the planet. It will be very strange going forward in a world without him in it. But, I will be grateful, every day, that he was in my life. Rest in peace, my brother. You did what you set out to do, and then some.”
Frey recently suffered from “a recurrence of previous intestinal issues, which will require major surgery and a lengthy recovery period,” the Eagles announced in November when they postponed their Kennedy Center Honors ceremony from December to the following year.
“The colitis and pneumonia were side effects from all the [medications],” Eagles manager Irving Azoff told The Wrap. “He died from complications of ulcer and colitis after being treated with drugs for his rheumatoid arthritis which he had for over 15 years.”
The Detroit-born Frey performed with groups in the Motor City area before relocating to Los Angeles in the late Sixties. Frey would eventually meet and live with J.D. Souther — his partner in the short-lived duo Longbranch Pennywhistle — and singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. It was Souther who encouraged Linda Ronstadt, his girlfriend at the time, to hire Frey and three other artists – drummer Don Henley, bassist Randy Meisner and guitarist Bernie Leadon – to serve as her backing band during a 1971 tour. When the trek concluded, the Eagles were born.
A year later, the Eagles’ inaugural lineup released their 1972 self-titled LP, featuring the Frey- and Browne-penned “Take It Easy” and the Frey-sung “Peaceful Easy Feeling.” Eagles, one of Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, set the band on a trajectory toward being one of the biggest selling acts ever, a reputation cemented the following year with the arrival of Desperado. The latter album featured multiple hit singles co-written by Frey, including “Tequila Sunrise” and the title track.
“Sometimes I wonder if the other guys in the band know how much I like them. How much of a foundation they are. We never even talk about it. We each have our own spaces. We play sometimes and we fight sometimes,” Frey told Rolling Stone in 1975. “I get so caught up in all this – the pressures of being Glenn Frey of the Eagles, the guy who talks a lot – that if Randy or Bernie needed some confidence building, I might be too self-involved to realize it. I worry about that. But even though there’s a keg of dynamite that’s always sitting there, this band is fairly together. I just figure we can’t lose. The longer the Eagles stay together, the better it’s gonna be. No matter what. We never expected to get this far, anyway. I thought we’d break up after our first album.”
Frey also had a hand in writing the Eagles’ “One of These Nights,” “Take It to The Limit” and “Lyin’ Eyes,” with the guitarist contributing lead vocals to the latter. The Eagles would reach their peak in 1976 with their landmark Hotel California, with the title track – penned by Frey, Henley and guitarist Don Felder – winning the Grammy for Record of the Year; “Hotel California” and “Life in the Fast Lane” (the latter written by Frey, Henley and Joe Walsh) would become classic rock staples, and the LP itself would place Number 37 on Rolling Stone‘s all-time list.
In 1979, the Eagles released The Long Run, which featured the last songs they would record together until the 1994 reunion live LP Hell Freezes Over. On Long Run, Frey provided vocals on the album’s most lasting single, “Heartache Tonight,” while also co-writing the title track and the Timothy B. Schmit-sung “I Can’t Tell You Why.” The following year, a fallout between Frey and Felder ultimately resulted in the group disbanding.
As a solo artist, Frey enjoyed a string of hits that included the Beverly Hills Cop track “The Heat Is On” and “You Belong to the City,” a song penned for Miami Vice. “City” would go on to take on a second life as a New York anthem thanks to its association with the 1986 World Series-winning New York Mets and Jay Z’s Frey-sampling “The City Is Mine.” Frey released five solo albums during this period, and also dabbled in acting, appearing in Miami Vice and later Jerry Maguire. That film’s director, Cameron Crowe, famously interviewed the Eagles for a 1975 Rolling Stone cover story, which would later inspire the filmmaker’s 2000 movie Almost Famous.
In 1993, thanks in part to Travis Tritt’s attempts to reconcile the Eagles for the video for his “Take It Easy” cover, the Eagles lineup of Frey, Henley, Felder, Schmit and Walsh reunited for good for 1994’s Hell Freezes Over, the title a nod to what it would take to get the Eagles back together. The reunited Eagles toured for nearly six years, with sporadic postponements as Frey dealt with medical issues that would occasionally plague him over the next two decades. In 1998, the Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with the seven core members performing “Hotel California” and “Take It Easy” together.
In 2007, an Eagles lineup of Frey, Henley, Walsh and Schmit released Long Road Out of Eden, the band’s first full-length LP since The Long Run. That was followed by a critically acclaimed documentary History of the Eagles as well as another long stretch of tour dates. In 2012, Frey released After Hours, his first solo LP in 20 years.
“I don’t get up every morning and say, ‘God dang! Eagles Greatest Hits is now past 30 million! It’s unbelievable!’ But, you know, it boggles the mind somewhat,” Frey told Rolling Stone in 2012. “You have to adjust when things like this happen. You just have to keep perspective. As long as I keep taking out the garbage and cleaning up after the dogs and taking the kids to school, I’ll have perspective. I don’t get to bask in the afterglow much. I told the guys in my band, ‘The reason I like coming out there is because people do what I say, and this is the only place where that happens.’ It’s very gratifying to think that we’ve found this place and that we are where we are.”
In addition to the Eagles’ statement – signed by Frey’s fellow band members, their management and Frey’s family – the group also shared the lyrics to Eagles’ “It’s Your World Now,” a Frey co-written track from their Long Road Out of Eden. “But first a kiss, one glass of wine / Just one more dance while there’s still time / My one last wish: someday, you’ll see /How hard I tried and how much you meant to me.”
Frey is survived by his wife Cindy and children Taylor, Deacon and Otis.
Mission accomplished, sir. The music Frey made in the Eagles is some of the most beloved and successful in rock history. Frey was a triple threat phenom: a gifted guitar player, dazzling singer and powerful songwriter. The hits he co-wrote with Henley and the rest of the Eagles — “Desperado,” “One of These Nights,” “Tequila Sunrise,” “Lyin’ Eyes,” “Hotel California,” “Life in the Fast Lane,” “New Kid in Town” — came with melodies that were perfect for the easygoing mood of the Seventies and lyrics that reflected the decade’s sense of world-weariness and cynicism.
When the Eagles wound down their initial run, Frey made the transition to Eighties solo status better than many of his peers, scoring hits like “You Belong to the City” and “Smuggler’s Blues.” He only recorded sporadically during the past couple decades, but his music remained with us — whether in Eagles concerts or on classic-rock radio. Here are some of his most indelible moments.
“Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” (1969)
Frey got his first taste of real recording backing up fellow Michigander Bob Seger, strumming acoustic guitar and singing background vocals on this ferocious bit of garage rock. Listen for Frey in the chorus: That’s him singing the high “ramblin’ man” part. “You can really hear Glen blurt out on the first chorus. He comes out really loud, tremendous gusto,” Seger says in the History of the Eagles documentary. Added Frey, “The most important thing that happened to me while I was in Detroit was I met Bob Seger.”
“Take It Easy” (1972)
Shortly before the Eagles cut their first album, Glenn Frey was a broke songwriter living in the same building as Jackson Browne. One day, Browne showed his neighbor an in-progress tune called “Take It Easy.” “I took it up to ‘standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona,'” Browne said. “Only Glenn would’ve had the girl slowing down to take a look at him.” The finished work was strong enough to become the first song on the first Eagles album, and their debut single. It rocketed to Number One and instantly turned the Eagles into one of the hottest groups in the country. The song remains so famous that the town of Winslow, Arizona, actually has a statue of a girl in a flatbed Ford near a corner.
“Peaceful Easy Feeling” (1972)
One of the early Eagles songs most associated with Frey, this single off the band’s self-titled 1972 debut is all chill. Written by frequent collaborator Jack Tempchin, it sums up the Eagles’ California cool vibe, elevated by one of Frey’s most tempered vocals. Here’s Frey the folk singer, influenced by night after night spent at L.A.’s Troubadour club, watching other folkies bare their souls. He may not have written its lyrics, but he owned them.
“Tequila Sunrise” (1973)
One of the centerpieces of Desperado, “Tequila Sunrise” is a forlorn, countrified ode to love lost and the courage to take another shot to put yourself out there again. Co-written by Henley and Frey, the latter handles the main vocal duties and sings his lines in a way that’s direct, but softened with a distinct, fluttering vibrato that helps lend a hopeful, encouraging note to the melancholy instrumentation underneath. In the liner notes to the 2003 Eagles compilation album The Very Best Of, Don Henley revealed that Frey, “was ambivalent about it because he thought that it was a bit too obvious or too much of a cliché because of the drink that was so popular then.” Eventually, Frey warmed up to it: “I love the song,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a single chord out of place.”
“Doolin-Dalton” (1973)
One of the key elements that pushed the Eagles to multiplatinum heights was the chemistry between Frey and Don Henley. This track, an ode to the Dalton Gang of outlaws from the 1880s, is a prime example of their tight rapport with the two men alternating solo verses and sharing the microphone for some truly spectacular harmonization. In the end however, alone in the spotlight, it’s Frey who brings the drama to a head with the stirring final pre-chorus line, “A man can use his back or use his brains/But some just went stir crazy, Lord/’Cause nothin’ ever changed.”
“Desperado” (1973)
“Desperado” was never released as a single, but the title track from the band’s cowboy concept album is synonymous with the group, and with Frey and Henley in particular. The pair penned the song together and, with 1972’s Eagles under their belt, were firing on all cylinders as a songwriting unit — hinting at what was to come with “Hotel California” four years later. “Desperado,” sung by Henley, with Frey accompanying him on piano, would go on to be covered by everyone from Linda Ronstadt to Johnny Cash.
“Already Gone” (1974)
Jack Tempchin and Robb Strandlund wrote this exuberant kiss-off to a former lover, but Frey took their lyrics to heart and made them his own. After the Eagles cut two LPs in London with formidable studio taskmaster Glyn Johns, “Already Gone” was among the first tracks they recorded in Los Angeles with new producer Bill Szymczyk; and Frey, for one, was relieved. “I was much more comfortable in the studio with Bill, and he was more than willing to let everyone stretch a bit,” he said. “‘Already Gone’ — that’s me being happier; that’s me being free.” Here, on the Eagles’ first straight-up rocker, you can hear that freedom in Frey’s guitar as it harmonizes and provides counterpoint to Don Felder’s own fluid licks and in Frey’s confident vocals, placed front-and-center.
“James Dean” (1974)
Written jointly by Frey, Don Henley, Jackson Browne and J.D. Souther, “James Dean” captures the thrill of what it was like to catch the iconic film star early on as a young kid. Frey sings lead on the track and the excitement in his voice is exhilarating and palpable. “I always thought the best line in ‘James Dean’ was “I know my life would look alright if I could see it on the silver screen,” Frey told Cameron Crowe in 2003. “You just don’t get to do that.”
“Lyin’ Eyes” (1975)
A smooth satire of L.A.’s gold-digger culture, “Lyin’ Eyes” was inspired by an evening out at one of Henley and Frey’s favorite bars, Dan Tana’s. The pair spotted a beautiful young woman with a fat, over-the-hill rich guy, and Frey immediately observed ,”She can’t even hide those lyin’ eyes.” The acerbic comment became the song’s title phrase, hooked to a forlorn melody that perfectly evokes the kept woman’s lonely predicament. Sung with just the right sense of wry tenderness by Frey and featuring some of the most beloved harmonies of the band’s entire career, “Lyin’ Eyes” won a Grammy in 1976 for Best Pop Performance.
“After the Thrill Is Gone” (1975)
Like “Doolin Dalton” on Desperado two years prior, Frey and Henley teamed up on lead vocals for this tale of love gone cold off One of These Nights. The song begs the question as to why the Eagles frontmen didn’t share vocals as often as they did writing credits. After all, the Eagles were first and foremost a harmony band, and “After the Thrill Is Gone” shows its two main voices in peak form.
“New Kid in Town” (1976)
Glenn Frey only sang lead on one track on Hotel California, but with “New Kid in Town,” he made it count. Written with Don Henley and J.D. Souther, the song is about how quickly love can vanish. “It’s also about the fleeting nature of fame, especially in the music business,” Henley said. “We were basically saying, ‘Look, we know we’re red hot right now, but we also know that somebody’s going to come along and replace us — both in music and in love.'” The group had so much faith in the song, they made it the first single from the album, and it quickly became their third Number One.
“Wasted Time” (1976)
“Hotel California” may be the hallmark of the Eagles’ epic 1976 album, but it’s the deep cut “Wasted Time” that ties the whole LP together. The song ends Side A, and a reprise of the breakup ballad opens Side B. As with “Hotel California,” Henley sung lead on “Wasted Time,” but it stands as another lightning-in-a-bottle collaboration with Frey. While the duo’s earlier songwriting often exalted taking it easy and living free, “Wasted Time” concerned itself with painful regret: “I could have done so many things, baby/If I could only stop my mind/From wonderin’ what I left behind. …”
“Life in the Fast Lane” (1977)
“I was riding shotgun in a Corvette with a drug dealer on the way to a poker game,” Glenn Frey said in the 2013 Eagles documentary History of the Eagles. “The next thing I know we’re doing 90. Holding! Big time! I say, ‘Hey man!’ He grins and goes, ‘Life in the fast lane!’ I thought, ‘Now there’s a song title.”‘ The tune he and the rest of the Eagles came up with — based around a classic Joe Walsh riff — is a definitive bulletin from inside the deepest reaches of Seventies L.A. decadence, sung by Henley with some funky clavinet playing by Frey. The Eagles embodied that lifestyle as much as anyone of course, and they knew it. Having it both ways rarely sounded so fly.
“Heartache Tonight” (1979)
Frey and J.D. Souther worked up the verses to what would become “Heartache Tonight” while jamming and listening to Sam Cooke. But nothing much came of that work until Bob Seger paid a visit to Los Angeles. Frey played Seger what they had — not much more than a melody and some hand claps at that point — and Seger “blurted out the chorus,” according to Frey. (Souther recalled, “Glenn called me and said, ‘Is four writers okay on this?’ And I said, ‘Sure, if it’s good.’ He said, ‘Yeah, it’s great. Seger just sang this to me.'”) That was the extent of Bob’s contribution, but it was all he needed to do. Frey, Souther, and Don Felder quickly polished off the song from there. “No heavy lyrics,” Frey recalled fondly. “The song is more of a romp — and that’s what it was intended to be.” As for Frey’s performance, there’s no topping Joe Walsh’s simple verdict: “Glenn went out and sung his ass off on that track.”
“I Can’t Tell You Why” (1980)
This is bass player Timothy B. Schmidt’s signature Eagles song, but Frey nearly steals the show with a powerfully emotive guitar solo near the end. In a band that counted Joe Walsh, Don “Fingers” Felder and Bernie Leadon as members, it’s a little bit easy to discount Frey’s prowess as a guitarist. “I Can’t Tell You Why” is a sublime reminder of just how good he was on six strings.
“The One You Love” (1982)
Less than two years after the Eagles split, Glenn Frey established his solo career with “The One You Love” from his debut LP, No Fun Aloud. He turned to old friend Jack Tempchin (co-writer of “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Already Gone”) to help pen the material, and they landed a Number 15 hit with the mellow, sax-driven “The One You Love.” The song came together quickly. “We were just sitting there, working on another song, and all of a sudden, I said, ‘Jack, you know I’ve always wanted to write a song that kind of goes something like this,'” Frey said. “And I just started playing stuff and singing the saxophone line, and the next thing we knew, we had written half the song in about 20 minutes. We were just sitting there going, ‘Whoa! Where did that come from?'”
“Smuggler’s Blues” (1984)
With the Eagles no longer occupying all of his time, Glenn Frey was able to try his hand at acting in the 1980s. His first role was a drug smuggler on the 1985 Miami Vice episode “Smuggler’s Blues,” named after Frey’s song of the same name. This was the peak of Miami Vice‘s popularity, and the song reached Number 12 on the Hot 100 and appeared on the mega-selling soundtrack to the television show. Co-written by Jack Tempchin, it’s the tale of a drug deal gone very, very bad.
“The Heat Is On” (1984)
Beverly Hills Cop was so successful that it not only turned Eddie Murphy into one of the biggest movie stars in the world, but the soundtrack sold by the millions thanks to Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F,” Patti LaBelle’s “New Attitude” and Glenn Frey’s “The Heat Is On.” The sax-heavy tune was ubiquitous on Top 40 radio and MTV in the winter of 1984. Frey’s second solo LP, The Allnighter, was a minor commercial disappointment, but this got his solo career right back on track. At first, Frey didn’t realize what a huge hit he had on his hands. “I came in, I sang it one day, I played guitar and did background vocals the next day and I got a small check, I think 15 grand,” he said. “I had a little Christmas money, and I was happy.”
“You Belong to the City” (1985)
Miami Vice was very good to Glenn Frey. The cop show not only launched his career as an actor and drove his song “Smuggler’s Blues” up the charts but also gave him the single biggest hit of his career: “You Belong to the City.” He and songwriting partner Jack Tempchin wrote the tale of a long, lonely urban night especially for the show. It hit Number Two on the Hot 100 and was so popular that the Eagles felt compelled to play it on their 1994–95 reunion tour. Like all Frey solo songs from this era, it was heavy on the sax.
“Busy Being Fabulous” (2007)
Don Felder hatched the idea for this single off 2007’s Long Road Out of Eden, and Frey fleshed it out, a ballad about love fading in favor of nightlife and empty friendships. Henley likened to a Rolling Stones song, saying, “Don didn’t like it or think it was good enough; Glenn kept working on it and filling in the holes in the lyrics. Industry people said it was a hit.” The song ended up breaking the Top 40 on the country charts. The video is essential viewing — especially the part where Joe Walsh, playing a cop, pulls over a partying Henley with his monkey sidekick.
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