Glenn Frey's Real Name: Glenn Lewis Frey

Quick answer: The musician is known professionally as Glenn Frey. The Los Angeles Times gives the fuller form Glenn Lewis Frey and dates his birth to November 6, 1948, in Detroit. Billboard independently uses Glenn Lewis Frey, in a tribute by Don Henley, and independently dates the birth to November 6, 1948, in Detroit, adding that he was raised in nearby Royal Oak. Both date his death to January 18, 2016 (Los Angeles Times; Billboard).

Real name and early life

Independent publishers support the documented full name Glenn Lewis Frey. The Times says he was inspired by the Beatles to take up the guitar, played in bar bands in Detroit as a teenager, and was for a time part of Bob Seger's band. Billboard independently says he grew up on Motown sounds and harder-edged rock from his hometown, played in a succession of local bands, and first connected with Seger when Frey's band, the Mushrooms, convinced Seger to write a song for them.

Career highlights

Billboard says that in 1971 Linda Ronstadt hired Frey and his friend, the drummer Don Henley, as part of a backing band, and that they later formed the Eagles. The Times independently describes Frey as a founding member of the Eagles and says he helped finish "Take It Easy," which became the Eagles' first national hit, in 1972. Billboard independently names "Take It Easy" as the first single, adding that the song was written almost entirely by Jackson Browne, with some lyrics added by Frey, and lists later mid-1970s hits including "Peaceful Easy Feeling," "Desperado," and "Tequila Sunrise." It also says the group's 1976 collection Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 has been certified 29 times platinum by the RIAA, and names the album Hotel California. After the band split in 1980, Billboard says Frey had solo hits including "The Heat Is On," from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, and "You Belong to the City."

Death

The Times, in a January 18, 2016, report, says he died in New York on Monday from rheumatoid arthritis he had struggled with for 15 years, as well as acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia, and gives his age as 67. Billboard independently says the band confirmed the death on Monday, January 18, and quotes a statement that he succumbed to complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia. Billboard does not name a city of death in the passages used here.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Glenn Frey or Glenn Lewis Frey are looking for the same American musician, a founding member of the Eagles.