It's hard to imagine the Eagles without Glenn Frey, but it almost happened. Frey was lured to California by the sound of Bob Seger, whom Frey began working with. Frey even appears on the title track of 1969 Seger's Ramblin' Gamblin' Man album, and could have likely continued working with Seger. But just 19 years old at the time, Seger's mom put an immediate halt to those plans.
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"I was going to be [Seger's] bass player," Frey says in History of the Eagles (via Far Out). "It didn't work out. My mom caught me smoking pot with a bunch of friends and said, 'Just a minute. Not so fast.'"
Undeterred, Frey joined Don Henley in backing Linda Ronstadt, which is what led the two musicians to form the Eagles. They were joined by Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon, with their first album, appropriately called Eagles, out in 1972.
The Eagles Without Glenn Frey
Frey tragically passed away in early 2016, from complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia, among other health issues. After he passed away, Frey's son Deacon, joined the band.
"Glenn's son Deacon is a very talented young man, and he seems to be up for the task," Henley said at the time. "He's enthusiastic about it and he's been working real hard on it, and he's gonna do it with us. I think that's appropriate."
In addition to Frey, in 2017, Vince Gill also joined the Eagles. Thrilled to be part of the iconic group, Gill insists he is there to support the Eagles, and not to perform his own music.
"Don was nice enough to say, 'Hey, let's do one of your songs,' and I said, 'With all due respect, I'd rather not,'" Gill told Cleveland.com. "I'm already stepping onto a place where a lot of people may not be that accepting of me. The last thing I want to do is give them one more reason to say, 'I didn't come here to hear his songs, too. I just came to hear Eagles songs!' So, we've kind of kept it at that, which seems to make the most sense."
