It’s good to be back from my blogging break.
January 18th, 2021. That date marks the fifth anniversary since Eagles founder Glenn Frey died at the way too young age of 67. He passed after being hospitalized for months with a myriad of health issues. As Frey’s longtime friend and fellow Detroit native Bob Seger said, the doctors “fought like hell” to save him. Eagles manager Irving Azoff had eight of the best physicians in their fields of expertise working to help Glenn but he couldn’t survive the triple threat of rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia.
I learned of Frey’s passing as a late breaking item on Lester Holt’s NBC Nightly News program. The music world had just lost David Bowie at age sixty-nine ten days before and now this. Three months later Prince would also succumb. What a crap year that was!
I’m a lifetime Eagles fan (with apologies to The Dude from “The Big Lebowski”) and this was one of those celebrity deaths that hit me pretty hard. Glenn was a very funny guy with a dry wit, saying lines like “I’m from Detroit, where ‘mother’ is half a word.” Ha! Glenn used to refer to his first wife, then his ex, as “Plaintiff.’
When recording with the Eagles, Glenn Frey was known as “The Lone Arranger” since he would spend long hours in the studio working by himself to set music parts and tracks up just right. I love his line that, “Perfection is not an accident” and often quote it myself. Looking back on my twenty years as a radio producer, I was a bit of a lone arranger myself. Working most pre-show hours alone at the station looking for and setting up bits, highlighting news clippings for my co-workers and coming up with ideas for the show. Glenn Frey and I were kindred spirits in that way. Add to that, Glenn often said his favorite Eagles song was also my personal favorite, “One of These Nights.”
Here’s an excerpt from my still in the works memoir “Raised on the Radio” as I fondly remember Glenn Frey. This goes back to 1992 when I was working for Q-101 and the Murphy in the Morning Show.
Glenn Frey came to the station when in town to play in a charity golf outing and promote his “Strange Weather” album. I grew up on Eagles music and was cautiously eager to meet him. I knew of all the strife within the band before they stopped working together in 1980 and wasn’t sure how he’d be with us. In the past, all members of the Eagles were very leery of and hesitant to talk to the media. It turns out Glenn was an excellent guest with us; maybe no longer being in the band put him in a good mood. One caller asked about the intestinal health struggles Frey dealt for years with and he openly talked about those problems.
One thing I noticed was the cadence in which Glenn spoke during his interview with Murphy. He was clear and deliberate in his conversation but with an engaging style. I tend to talk in a similar manner so I identified with and liked the former Eagle from the start.
When it came time to record a couple of promos for the show, Glenn carefully looked over my typed lines in the production room. I asked if there were any problems and was told no, it was good copy. He was just measuring everything out to make sure he gave good reads. So yes, I’ve recorded in a studio with an Eagle.
Months after visiting us at Q-101, I saw Glenn and his touring band play a concert at the Vic Theater. He did his solo hits and Eagles classics. Backstage after the show, again he was affable and a pleasure to spend a few minutes with. I also made points with my date as he gladly took pictures and signed an autograph for her.
The intestinal problems Glenn Frey was so open to discuss on the air ended up being part of what ended his life in January of 2016. Those issues along with rheumatoid arthritis and pneumonia did him in at the young age of sixty-seven. A number of celebrities I met over the years have since died but Glenn’s passing was a tough one to take in. He was great with me in 1992 and I was thrilled to have seen the Eagles in concert a couple years later.
I also admired Glenn Frey’s solo music. From the Chuck Berry styled rock and roll of “Party Town” (a song that never got its proper due) to the sax and horns Memphis sound of “The One You Love” and the Al Green influenced “True Love.” The acting he did in “Wiseguy” and “Miami Vice” along with soundtrack work for those shows was aces as was his role as the tough negotiating Arizona Cardinals general manager in “Jerry Maguire.”
Over the years the Eagles have had their share of detractors; many citing Frey and Don Henley for being difficult and greedy rock stars. Still, I choose to look past those stories and appreciate the music they brought us. Glenn’s hassles within the band be damned, he was first rate in my book and always will be. Rest in peace, Glenn Lewis Frey.
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