New Members of Rock & Roll Heaven, Part Three

We lost so much talent in 2016.  This man has given us the soundtrack of our lives from 1972-2016--no one we lost has been near as successful for near as long:

Glenn Frey, guitarist of the Eagles and solo star, died January 17 in New York City at the age of 67 of complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia.

With Don Henley, Frey formed one of the most powerful and successful partnerships in music history as members of the Eagles.

Frey co-wrote this with Jackson Browne.  Browne had written much of the song for his 1971 debut album, but couldn't finish it.  His friend and then-neighbor Frey heard the song and liked it so much that Jackson gave it to Glenn for his new band.  Frey finished the second verse,  "...such a fine sight to see, it's a girl, My Lord, in a flatbed Ford..."

Frey and the Eagles went into the studio to record it, it reached a highly underrated peak of #12, and the rest is music history.

Frey also wrote and sang lead on "Peaceful Easy Feeling" in 1973, which we now know is one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.

Frey also sang lead on the underrated gem "Already Gone", which is one of the best examples of the Eagles' superb harmonies.

The Eagles soon flew into the stratosphere.  In 1975, "Lyin' Eyes" peaked at #2.

Frey also co-wrote the #1 smash "One Of These Nights".

The group was back in 1977 with the #1 smash "New Kid In Town".

The follow-up to that became one of The Top 10 Songs of the Rock Era*.

Frey sang lead on another #1 smash from 1979.

The Eagles enjoyed a minor hit with this highly underrated song, with their harmonies nothing less than spectacular. 

After the Eagles went on "an extended hiatus" after the great album The Long Run, Frey became a big solo star, hitting #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart with "The One You Love".

The director of the movie Beverly Hills Cop called upon Glenn to record a song for the soundtrack album, and he came through with this #2 smash.

Frey also recorded music for the television show Miami Vice--"Smuggler's Blues" was underrated at #12.

Frey scored another huge hit from Miami Vice with "You Belong To The City".

In 1994, the Eagles reunited in one of the greatest comebacks of the Rock Era.  They first toured the world and released the album Hell Freezes Over.  They then recorded an amazing double album in 1997 called Long Road Out of Eden.  The album has now sold over seven million copies in the U.S. alone.  It features many great songs, one of which is "Hole In The World", representing how the group felt after the murders of September 11, 2001.

Another great song is "How Long".




 

There are many gems on the album--we'll leave you with this one, co-written by Frey and sung by Don Henley... 

lenn Frey--one of the great talents of our lifetime.  He will be greatly missed, but he gave us so much great music.