Travis Tritt Statement On Passing Of Close Friend, Eagles Member Glenn Frey

“Got insane, got drunk, got high, had girls, played music and made money”, he said.

“Most people put them in a rock field because they were the leaders of the country’s rock movement, but the biggest impact the Eagles had with Glenn Frey are on today’s country music”, Pringle said.

Henley said Frey was like a brother to him and the bond they forged 45 years ago was never broken, even during the time the Eagles were dissolved. Frey had been battling intestinal issues for months and had a surgery in November.

In 1980, Henley famously said that their band would come together again “when hell freezes over”.

Fans are leaving balloons, flowers and candles on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, to celebrate the life of Eagles band member Glenn Frey. “He was the spark plug, the man with the plan”. Several artists have covered it over the years, including Tritt, who recorded a version of the song for the 1993 tribute album, Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles. At times it felt like we were brothers and at other times, like brothers, we disagreed. “We fought because we were passionate about the band”. Other drama followed the group: After getting a brutal business ultimatum from Frey, Don Felder left the reunited group; guitarist Bernie Leadon poured beer over Frey’s head as he exited the band; and there’s bassist Randy Meisner leaving when he didn’t want to sing “Take It to the Limit”, his signature song.

By the tour’s end the quartet formed the first incarnation of the Eagles, though the line-up varied through the years. The group came to define California pop through the ’70s.

The Eagles became a hit over the next decade as they embodied, if not pioneered, melodic California sound and both the band’s greatest hits from the mid-1970’s and Hotel California are among the best-selling albums in History. But Frey confessed: “There’s a keg of dynamite that’s always sitting there”.

When the Eagles split in 1980, Frey pursued a successful solo career, releasing theme songs for the hit movie Beverly Hills Cop (The Heat Is On) and hugely popular TV series Miami Vice (You Belong to the City).

Its imagistic, vaguely mystical lyrics – the song was written by Frey, Henley and Don Felder – hint at a drug-fuelled state of being, perhaps promising rapture, perhaps not, and have supplied fuel for countless interpretations. The Eagles were the recipients of six Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, sold over 120 million albums and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2014 they earned £52million from concerts alone. He is survived by his wife Cindy and children Taylor, Deacon and Otis.