Arizona city made famous by Eagles song celebrates Frey

Following the death of the Eagles guitarist Glenn Frey, Chris Bond looks back at the band’s heyday and what made them one of the biggest rock acts of all time.

Fans are leaving balloons, flowers and candles on a street corner to celebrate the life of Frey.

“Glenn fought a courageous battle for the past several weeks but, sadly, succumbed to complications from Rheumatoid Arthritis, Acute Ulcerative Colitis and Pneumonia”, the group said in an update on the Eagles’ official website on Monday.

The Aspen Times (http://bit.ly/1V4XIdv) reports that Frey and his original band mates played their first extended show as the Eagles at a long-gone club at the base of Little Nell, the Gallery, in 1971.

“Glenn was the James Dean of the band”, he adds. Frey died Monday at 67. The Recording Academy, which presents the Grammys, called Frey’s death “a huge loss for the music community”, saying he was “an integral part of one of the most storied bands in pop history”.

“I had always hoped somewhere along the line, he and I would have dinner together, talking about old times and letting it go with a handshake and a hug”. And Glenn Frey, like all the best Eagles’ songs, Glenn Frey was behind writing those.

The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and was supposed to have been honored at the Kennedy Center last month, but the appearance was postponed because of Frey’s health problems.

“MT: Shocker. My friend from the early days, and important member of Eagles, has died”. “We were playing state fairs and colleges, driving rent a cars and flying coach”. His greatest moment with the group was composing the musical for the title track to “Hotel California” and watching Henley’s face light up when he listened to the demo.

Felder joined the band in 1974 and helped write the classic song “Hotel California”.

But from the start there was tension, brought on unintentionally by Felder.

The Eagles split following a 1980 political benefit concert that exposed disagreements within the band. Henley had vowed the Eagles would reunite only when “hell freezes over”, which became the name of the 1994 album they had never imagined making. The case was eventually settled out of court.

“He and Don Henley were the principal members, they were the main singers and songwriters, they were like the Lennon and McCartney of the band”. Fellow Detroit-born rocker and frequent collaborator Bob Seger told Billboard magazine that Frey was a perfectionist and the driving force behind The Eagles.