After the death of the famous legend David Bowie, another icon has passed away. Glenn Frey, one of the founding members of the famous American rock band the Eagles, passed away January 18 in New York City.

Born in Detroit, Michigan on November 6, 1948, his love for music started at a young age. While growing up in Royal Oak, Michigan, he studied piano at five years old and later learned to play guitar. By the mid- 1960s, he was already a part of the rock scene, and during his high school career, he joined one of his earliest bands the Subterraneans. After graduating high school in 1966, Frey was a part of three more bands before he would be a member of the Eagles. In 1966 he played for The Four of Us which was a local group. He then formed the Mushrooms in 1967 and later that year formed Heavy Metal Kids.

While in Los Angeles (after following his then- girlfriend, an aspiring singer), he became acquainted with J.D. Souther getting experience and co- writing songs. Frey was hired by Souther’s girlfriend, Linda Ronstadt in 1970. Frey alongside Henley, Randy, Meisner and Bernie Leadon played as a single gig. Then during the summer of 1971, Henley and Frey joined Linda for her summer tour. After that Henley, Frey, Leadon and Meisner formed the Eagles and became known as the world’s best- selling group of all time. After splitting up in 1980 and reuniting in 1994, the band faced a lot of questions as to why they split up. Then in 1994 at their first live concert Frey told the crowd, “For the record, we never broke up. We just took a 14- year vacation.” From then on the band stuck together. On July 29, 2015, they finished their recent “History of the Eagles World Tour.” That was Frey’s final appearance with the band.

Having suffered from rheumatoid arthritis (which affects many joints of the body) since 2000, Frey was required to endure a major surgery. The surgery was for intestinal problems and would take a lengthy time for recovery. Then on January 18, 2016, while recovering from the surgery, Glenn Frey passed away due to complications from his rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia. Another icon has been lost and Hotel California will never be the same.