Music
Glenn Frey
1948–2016 · singer, songwriter, guitarist
The Eagles co-founder was born in Detroit, grew up in Royal Oak and cut his teeth in the mid-1960s Detroit rock scene before heading to Los Angeles.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
New York City, New York
aged 67- Birth name
- Glenn Lewis Frey
- Detroit years
- 1948–1968
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Glenn Frey was born in Detroit and raised in suburban Royal Oak, where he started piano at five, later switched to guitar and played trumpet in the marching band at Dondero High School. With classmates he formed the Subterraneans and became part of the lively mid-1960s Detroit rock scene. He befriended Bob Seger and played acoustic guitar and sang backing vocals on Seger's early records. Through a Detroit girlfriend whose sister lived in California he first went to Los Angeles, came home after a few weeks, then went back for good around 1968, forming a duo with Detroit-born J. D. Souther before co-founding the Eagles in 1971. He never lost the Michigan pride: when Seger's “Shakedown” topped the charts in 1987 after Frey had passed on the song, he joked that at least the money stayed in Michigan. Royal Oak named the street beside his old school Glenn Frey Drive weeks after his death in 2016.
Highlights
- Co-founded the Eagles; co-wrote “Take It Easy”, “Hotel California” and “Lyin' Eyes”
- Six Grammy Awards with the Eagles
- Solo hits “The Heat Is On” and “You Belong to the City”
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Eagles (1998)
- Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame (2009)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1962–1966
Dondero High School (now Royal Oak Middle School)
Closed · 2006
He graduated in 1966 after playing trumpet in the marching band. The building is now Royal Oak Middle School.
Memorial · 2016–
Glenn Frey Drive
The street along the south side of his old school was renamed for him and unveiled on February 18, 2016.