Glenn Frey is dead.
The Eagles confirmed moments ago that its co-founder, guitarist, singer and songwriter died Monday in a New York City hospital. He was 67, and had been hospitalized since November.
On its website, Frey's family and his bandmates posted a joint statement that reads as follows:
"Glenn fought a courageous battle for the past several weeks but, sadly, succumbed to complications from Rheumatoid Arthritis, Acute Ulcerative Colitis and Pneumonia.
"The Frey family would like to thank everyone who joined Glenn to fight this fight and hoped and prayed for his recovery.
"Words can neither describe our sorrow, nor our love and respect for all that he has given to us, his family, the music community & millions of fans worldwide."
The statement was signed by his family -- Cindy Frey, Taylor Frey, Deacon Frey, Otis Frey -- as well as Eagles Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Bernie Leadon, their manager Irving Azoff and Don Henley, the Eagles' co-founder.
It also quotes from the song "It's Your World Now," which Frey wrote with Jack Tempchin. It appears on the Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden album and says, in part, "A perfect day, the sun is sinkin' low/As evening falls, the gentle breezes blow/The time we shared went by so fast/Just like a dream, we knew it couldn't last/But I'd do it all again/If I could, somehow/But I must be leavin' soon/It's your world now."
In a statement, initially released to The Hollywood Reporter, Dallas resident Don Henley said that Frey "was like a brother to me; we were family, and like most families, there was some dysfunction.
"But, the bond we forged 45 years ago was never broken, even during the 14 years that the Eagles were dissolved. We were two young men who made the pilgrimage to Los Angeles with the same dream: to make our mark in the music industry -- and with perseverance, a deep love of music, our alliance with other great musicians and our manager, Irving Azoff, we built something that has lasted longer than anyone could have dreamed.
"But, Glenn was the one who started it all," said Frey's longtime collaborator in his farewell. "He was the spark plug, the man with the plan. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and a work ethic that wouldn't quit. He was funny, bullheaded, mercurial, generous, deeply talented and driven. He loved his wife and kids more than anything. ...
"I'm not sure I believe in fate, but I know that crossing paths with Glenn Lewis Frey in 1970 changed my life forever, and it eventually had an impact on the lives of millions of other people all over the planet. It will be very strange going forward in a world without him in it. But, I will be grateful, every day, that he was in my life. Rest in peace, my brother. You did what you set out to do, and then some."
The relationship has been well documented -- in books and, most recently, an authorized documentary that now serves as the last word on the band Frey and Henley co-founded in 1971. The two men couldn't have been more dissimilar: Frey was from Detroit; Henley, small-town North Texas. But a stint in Linda Ronstadt's backing band threw them together, and the Eagles were formed in 1971.
"I think I brought him ideas and a lot of opinions; he brought me poetry," Frey told Cameron Crowe in 2003, for The Very Best of the Eagles collection's liner notes. He was talking about "Desperado," the best song Henley and Frey ever wrote together. He was also talking about their relationship. "We were a good team."
As the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame notes, in 1972 -- when they released their eponymous debut -- the Eagles' "country-flavored rock evoked vistas as boundless as those of the Old West, whose frontier mythology they adopted." The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
The band would release five more albums -- Desperado (1973), On the Border (1974), One of These Nights (1975), Hotel California (1976) and The Long Run (1979) -- before the Eagles disbanded in 1980. Their 1976 greatest-hits collection became the best-selling record of the 20th century. Those who didn't know the band knew the songs; those who didn't even like the Eagles (like, say, Jeff Lebowski) could name all the hits and sing all the words. Few bands had the impact, the reach.
The Eagles' break-up eventually became a 14-year "vacation," during which Frey released solo records and began acting, appearing most famously in an episode of Miami Vice named for one of his biggest solo hits, "Smuggler's Blues."
They reunited in 1994, for the Hell Freezes Over tour, and released Long Road Out of Eden in 2007. The band opened the American Airlines Center, performing at its first-ever event on July 28, 2001.
The Eagles were scheduled to appear at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony in Washington, D.C., last December, but bowed out in November because of Frey's long-recurring health issues. In a statement released shortly before his most recent surgery, the band said, "The members of the Eagles hail from different regions of this great nation, and we feel very fortunate that our music has been embraced by people from all walks of life, all over the world. Popular music is one of America's greatest exports -- a bridge that spans geographical and cultural boundaries. We are truly humbled to have been able to be a part of this global connection."
