Today we celebrate the birthday of Eagles founder Glenn Frey!
Coming out of the Detroit Rock Scene of the late 60’s Frey at an early age was almost a member of the Silver Bullet Band, when Bob Seger recruited him to sing on “Ramblin Gamblin Man”. Frey’s mother was not going to let her high schooler son go on tour with Seger so Frey would have to wait till after high school to form his own band, and later move to L.A. to further his career. While in a dup with J.D. Souther, Frey would be recruited to be a part of Linda Ronstadt’s back up band, which would eventually cut ties with Linda to become the Eagles.
Alongside, Don Henley, he would write some of the biggest songs of the 70’s, like "Take It Easy", "Heartache Tonight", and “Hotel California”. The iconic band would become one of the biggest and most influential bands of the decade and all-time, with a string of classic albums and world tours. By, the decades end the band had burned out from the constant touring and pressure of being the Eagles, so after an unfortunate fight between himself and Don Felder, the Eagles went their separate ways and Frey became a solo act.
Frey would release his debut album, No Fun Aloud, and hit big with 80’s classics like "Smuggler's Blues", "The Heat Is On", and "You Belong to the City". He would remain the last holdout to an Eagles reunion, but by the 90’s he finally joined the others to bring back the band to a gigantic reunion tour and the highly successful “Hell Freezes Over” Unplugged album they recorded on MTV.
As a member of Eagles, Frey won six Grammys, five American Music Awards, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
Happy Birthday Glenn Frey, your words and music belong to us all.