Glenn Frey
Glenn Lewis Frey (/fraɪ/ FRY; November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016) was an American musician. He was a founding member of the rock band the Eagles. Frey was the co-lead singer and frontman for the Eagles, roles he came to share with fellow member Don Henley, with whom he wrote most of the Eagles' material. Frey played guitar and keyboards as well as singing lead vocals on songs such as "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "Tequila Sunrise", "Already Gone", "James Dean", "Lyin' Eyes", "New Kid in Town", and "Heartache Tonight".
This article is about the guitarist for the band The Eagles. For the American football player on the Philadelphia Eagles, see Glenn Frey (American football).
Glenn Frey
November 6, 1948
January 18, 2016 (aged 67)
- Musician
- singer
- songwriter
- actor
1966–2015
-
Janie Beggs(m. 1983; div. 1988)
-
Cindy Millican(m. 1990)
3, including Deacon
- Rock
- pop rock
- soft rock
- country rock (early)
- hard rock (early)
- Vocals
- guitar
- keyboards
While the Eagles were on hiatus from 1980 to 1994, Frey embarked on a successful solo career. He released his debut album, No Fun Aloud, in 1982 and went on to record Top 40 hits "The One You Love", "Smuggler's Blues", "Sexy Girl", "The Heat Is On", "You Belong to the City", "True Love", "Soul Searchin'" and "Livin' Right". 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.
Early life[edit]
Born in Detroit, Michigan, on November 6, 1948[1] and raised in nearby Royal Oak, Frey studied piano at age five, later switched to guitar, and became part of the mid-1960s Detroit rock scene.[2] One of his earliest bands was called the Subterraneans, named after Jack Kerouac's novel,[3] and included fellow Dondero High School classmates Doug Edwards (later replaced by Lenny Mintz) on drums, Doug Gunsch and Bill Barnes on guitar, with Jeff Hodge on bass.
Immediately after graduating from Dondero in 1966, Frey was invited to join The Four of Us, a local band led by Gary Burrows, who had seen him performing with the Subterraneans.[3][4] Frey also attended Oakland Community College while in the band, and he learned to sing harmonies performing with The Four of Us.[4] In 1967, he 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.[5] Seger also wrote and produced the band's first single, "Such a Lovely Child",[6][7] and the band made television appearances to promote it. Frey had intended to join Seger's band, but his mother blocked that course of action for smoking cannabis with Seger.[4] In the later part of 1967, Frey also pulled together another band called Heavy Metal Kids with Jeff Burrows (piano), Jeff Alborell (bass), Paul Kelcourse (lead guitar), and Lance Dickerson (drums).[3]
At age 19 in 1968, Frey played the acoustic guitar and performed background vocals on Seger's single, "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man".[8] Frey has said that Seger strongly encouraged and influenced him to focus on writing original songs.[9] They remained good friends and occasional songwriting partners in later years, and Frey would also sing on Seger's songs such as "Fire Lake" and "Against the Wind".[3][4]
In Detroit, Frey also met and dated Joan Sliwin of the local female group The Mama Cats, which became Honey Ltd. after the group moved to California in 1968.[4] Frey went to Los Angeles hoping to reconnect with his girlfriend, and he was introduced to J. D. Souther by her sister, Alexandra Sliwin, who was with Souther at the time.[10] Frey returned to Detroit after three weeks, but then went back again to Los Angeles to form a duo with Souther called Longbranch Pennywhistle.[11] They were signed to Amos Records and released an eponymous album in 1969, which contains songs he wrote such as "Run, Boy, Run" and "Rebecca", and "Bring Back Funky Women" he co-wrote with Souther.[12] Frey also met Jackson Browne during this period. The three musicians lived in the same apartment building for a short time, and Frey later said that he learned a lot about songwriting from hearing Browne work on songs in the apartment below.[13]
Solo career[edit]
After the Eagles disbanded, Frey achieved solo success in the 1980s, especially with two No. 2 hits. In 1984 he recorded in collaboration with Harold Faltermeyer the worldwide hit "The Heat Is On", the main theme from the Eddie Murphy action comedy film Beverly Hills Cop; then, Frey performed "You Belong to the City" (from the television series Miami Vice, the soundtrack of which stayed on top of the U.S. album charts for 11 weeks in 1985). His other contribution to the soundtrack, "Smuggler's Blues", hit No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. During his solo career, Frey had 12 charting songs in the U.S. Top 100. Eleven of those were written with Jack Tempchin, who wrote "Peaceful Easy Feeling".[21]
Frey was the first choice to record "Shakedown", the theme for the film Beverly Hills Cop II. Frey did not like the lyrics and then came down with laryngitis, so the song was given to Bob Seger. After the song went to number one, Frey called to congratulate Seger, saying "At least we kept the money in Michigan!"[22]
Frey contributed the song "Flip City" to the Ghostbusters II soundtrack and "Part of Me, Part of You" to the soundtrack for Thelma & Louise. In 2005 he appeared on B.B. King & Friends: 80 on the track "Drivin' Wheel".[23]
In the late 1990s, Frey founded a record company, Mission Records, with attorney Peter Lopez.[24] Frey never released any of his own work on the label, and the company has since disbanded.
In 2009 Glenn Frey was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.[25]
On May 8, 2012, he released his first solo album in 20 years, After Hours, featuring covers of pop standards from the 1940s to the 1960s. It was his final album before his death.
Acting career[edit]
As a television actor, Frey guest starred on Miami Vice in the first-season episode "Smuggler's Blues", inspired by his hit song of the same name, and had a starring role in the "Dead Dog Records Arc" of Wiseguy.[26] He was also the star of South of Sunset, which was canceled after one episode. In the late 1990s, he guest-starred on Nash Bridges as a policeman whose teenage daughter had run amok and gone on a crime spree with her sociopathic boyfriend. In 2002, he appeared on HBO's Arliss, playing a political candidate who double-crosses Arliss and must pay a high price for it.
Frey's first foray into film was his starring role in Let's Get Harry, a 1986 film about a group of plumbers who travel to Colombia to rescue a friend from a drug lord. Frey's next film appearance was a smaller role in Cameron Crowe's third film, Jerry Maguire (1996). Frey played the frugal general manager of the Arizona Cardinals football team who, in the film's climax, finally agrees to award Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character, wide receiver Rod Tidwell, a large professional contract.[27]
Personal life[edit]
Frey was married twice. From 1983 to 1988, he was married to artist Janie Beggs. He married dancer and choreographer Cindy Millican in 1990. They had three children: a daughter, Taylor, in 1991 and two sons, Deacon in 1993 and Otis in 2002 and remained together until his death.[28][29] Deacon, following his father's death, toured with the surviving Eagles[30] until he departed in 2022 in favor of a solo career. He rejoined the Eagles in 2023.[31]
Illness and death[edit]
Frey was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2000, which affected his joints.[32] The medication that he was prescribed to control the disease eventually led to colitis and pneumonia.[32] In November 2015, the Eagles announced they were postponing their appearance at the Kennedy Center Honors because Frey required surgery for intestinal problems and needed a lengthy recovery period.[33] Because of complications from pneumonia, he never had the surgery and was placed in a medically induced coma at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Frey died there on January 18, 2016, at the age of 67, from complications of rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia.[2][34][35][36] Some medications for rheumatoid arthritis or ulcerative colitis are immune suppressants and can compromise the immune system's ability to fight off pneumonia.[37] In January 2018, Frey's widow filed a suit against Mount Sinai Hospital and gastroenterologist Steven Itzkowitz for the wrongful death of Frey.[38]
Frey was publicly mourned by his friends, fellow musicians, and bandmates,[39] including Don Henley,[40] Randy Meisner,[41] J. D. Souther,[42] Jack Tempchin,[43] Irving Azoff,[44] Linda Ronstadt,[45] Don Felder,[46] and Bob Seger.[47] At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, the remaining members of the Eagles and Jackson Browne performed "Take It Easy" in his honor.[48] A life-sized statue of Frey was unveiled at the Standin' on the Corner Park in Winslow, Arizona, on September 24, 2016, to honor his songwriting contributions to "Take It Easy", made famous by the Eagles as their first single in 1972.[49] The road[50] which runs next to the high school (now a middle school) that he attended in Royal Oak, Michigan bears his name.[51]
Equipment[edit]
Takamine Guitars manufactures a Glenn Frey signature acoustic-electric guitar, the EF360GF. It is designed to replicate the Takamine Frey used for his live and studio applications.[71] In the 1970s, Frey used Martin acoustic guitars in both six- and 12-string versions.
Frey played assorted electric guitars over the years, namely Fender Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG, Gibson ES-330, Epiphone Casino and Rickenbacker 230,[72] but the electric guitar that is most associated with him was his black Gibson Les Paul Junior, nicknamed Old Black.[73]