(Credits: Far Out / Steve Alexander)
Mon 9 March 2026 18:00, UK
There was nothing stopping Glenn Frey from becoming one of the biggest names in music when he first started.
Even though he might not have begun with the Eagles right out of the gate, he was willing to pay every one of his dues before he felt that he had the right people who were going to send him on the fast track to stardom. There was no room for him and Don Henley to fail when they first started playing together, but Frey had to consider a few other gigs before being told that they were permanently off limits.
Then again, side projects were never a bad word within the California rockers. They were all expected to give 1000% every time they made one of their records, but if Joe Walsh could have made an entire solo record in the midst of them writing Hotel California, it wasn’t like there wasn’t room for them to collaborate with other artists. But before the band started, Frey figured that being a solo star wasn’t in the cards for him just yet.
He certainly had a knack for writing songs when he moved to California, but when he presented his tracks to David Geffen, even the mogul knew that he needed a bit more of an X-factor to get the results he wanted every time he played. And while JD Souther was a great friend and mentor to him whenever they worked on their material, there were a lot better things lying ahead if he saw what else was going on on the Sunset Strip.
Because, really, Frey had music in his veins long before he had even moved out to the Sunshine State. Detroit might have been the one-stop shop for fast cars when he was a kid, but aside from being one of the biggest industries in the country, the music was what struck Frey first. He wasn’t going to become his inner garage rocker with The Stooges or the MC5 by any means, but when he learned the hits that were coming out of Motown, he was slowly starting to build up his musical vocabulary.
And when Bob Seger came to town and heard Frey’s voice, it was like he had found the player he had been looking for. Seger had a few more years on Frey and was definitely being looked at as a mentor figure, but even with a few hit singles under his belt, Frey remembered that he was talked out of joining Seger’s band after a few too many bad looks when he got back home.
I’m sorry, did I say talked out of? I should really say forced out if I’m judging by what Frey said, saying, “We really thought this was it. Fortunately for everybody, my mother found out I was smoking pot, and she called Punch Andrews to say he might be jeopardizing his career. So of course that put the kibosh on me working with Seger. That was the impetus to go to California.” Any other kid would have resented that, but it’s not like Frey had any time to slow down.
He wanted to become a rock star whether his mother wanted him to or not, and when he moved to California, he found a bunch of people that were more tuned into what he wanted to. Crosby, Stills, and Nash were pointing the way forward, and once he hooked up with Linda Ronstadt’s band, the beginnings of Eagles were already starting when he heard what Henley’s voice could do whenever they sang backup.
The makings of rock and roll history were already there, so, really, Frey should probably be thanking his mom for telling him that he couldn’t go out with Seger. It wasn’t the best look for him in terms of being the cool musician out of Detroit, but in this case, mother probably did know best when the road led him to working with Henley.