Glenn Frey, the founding member of The Eagles whose smooth vocals defined the band’s sound, has passed away. According to a family statement, he was suffering from a combination of rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia. He was sixty-seven years old.
Frey and Don Henley formed The Eagles in 1971 with Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner. Their first album, 1972’s Eagles, produced mega-hits in “Witchy Woman,” “Take It Easy,” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling”; Frey sang lead on the latter two songs, as he did for many of the band’s hits, including “Already Gone,” “Tequila Sunrise,” and “New Kid in Town.” He and Henley were the band’s principal songwriters, and together their dusky combination of singer-songwriter folk, album-oriented rock, and country rock would arguably be responsible for country music’s shift toward pop, fundamentally altering the landscape of the music world.
The band broke up in 1982, though they eventually reformed in 1994 for the Hell Freezes Over tour. In the interim, Frey enjoyed several solo hits, including “The Heat is On.”
“The Frey family would like to thank everyone who joined Glenn to fight this fight and hoped and prayed for his recovery,” the band said on their website. “Words can neither describe our sorrow, nor our love and respect for all that he has given to us, his family, the music community and millions of fans worldwide.”
(via the A. P.)
