During the hiatus of the Eagles from 1980 to 1994, Frey embarked on a successful solo career. He released his debut album, No Fun Aloud, in 1982 and went on to record Top 40 hits "The One You Love", "Smuggler's Blues", "Sexy Girl", "The Heat Is On", "You Belong to the City", "True Love", "Soul Searchin'" and "Livin' Right". As a member of the Eagles, Frey won six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards. The Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the first year they were nominated. Consolidating his solo recordings and those with the Eagles, Frey had 24 Top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.
Early life
Born in Detroit, Michigan, on November 6, 1948 and raised in nearby Royal Oak, Frey studied piano at age five, later switched to guitar, and became part of the mid-1960s Detroit rock scene. One of his earliest bands was called the Subterraneans, named after Jack Kerouac's novel, and included fellow Dondero High School classmates Doug Edwards (later replaced by Lenny Mintz) on drums, Doug Gunsch and Bill Barnes on guitar, with Jeff Hodge on bass.
Immediately after graduating from Dondero in 1966, Frey was invited to join The Four of Us, a local band led by Gary Burrows, who had seen him performing with the Subterraneans. Frey also attended Oakland Community College while in the band, and he learned to sing harmonies performing with The Four of Us. In 1967, he formed the Mushrooms with Gary Burrows' brother Jeff, Bill Barnes, Doug Gunsch, Ken Bash, and Lenny Mintz. That year Frey also met Bob Seger, who helped Frey get a management and recording contract with a label formed by Seger's management team, Hideout Records. Seger also wrote and produced the band's first single, "Such a Lovely Child", and the band made television appearances to promote it. Frey had intended to join Seger's band, but his mother blocked that course of action for smoking cannabis with Seger. In the later part of 1967, Frey also pulled together another band called Heavy Metal Kids with Jeff Burrows (piano), Jeff Alborell (bass), Paul Kelcourse (lead guitar), and Lance Dickerson (drums).
At age 19 in 1968, Frey played the acoustic guitar and performed background vocals on Seger's single, "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man". Frey has said that Seger strongly encouraged and influenced him to focus on writing original songs. They remained good friends and occasional songwriting partners in later years, and Frey would also sing on Seger's songs such as "Fire Lake" and "Against the Wind".
In Detroit, Frey also met and dated Joan Sliwin of the local female group The Mama Cats, which became Honey Ltd. after the group moved to California in 1968. Frey went to Los Angeles hoping to reconnect with his girlfriend, and he was introduced to J. D. Souther by her sister, Alexandra Sliwin, who was with Souther at the time. Frey returned to Detroit after three weeks, but then went back again to Los Angeles to form a duo with Souther called Longbranch Pennywhistle. They were signed to Amos Records and released an eponymous album in 1969, which contains songs he wrote such as "Run, Boy, Run" and "Rebecca", and "Bring Back Funky Women" he co-wrote with Souther. Frey also met Jackson Browne during this period. The three musicians lived in the same apartment building for a short time, and Frey later said that he learned a lot about songwriting from hearing Browne work on songs in the apartment below.
The Eagles
Frey met drummer Don Henley in 1970. They were signed to the same label, Amos Records, at that time and spent time at the Troubadour. When Linda Ronstadt needed a backup band for an upcoming tour, her manager John Boylan hired Frey because Boylan needed someone who could play rhythm guitar and sing. Frey approached Don Henley to join Ronstadt. Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon were also hired. Because the backing band personnel changed during the tour, the four played together only once: at a gig at Disneyland. While on the tour, Frey and Henley decided to form a band together. And they were joined by Meisner on bass and Leadon on guitar, banjo, steel guitar, mandolin and dobro, forming the Eagles, with Frey playing guitar and keyboards and Henley playing drums. The band went on to become one of the world's best-selling groups of all time. Frey wrote or co-wrote (often with Henley) many of the group's songs, and sang the lead vocals on a number of Eagles hits including "Take It Easy", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "Already Gone", "Tequila Sunrise", "Lyin' Eyes", "New Kid in Town", "Heartache Tonight" and "How Long".
The Eagles broke up around 1980 and reunited in 1994, when they released a new album, Hell Freezes Over. The album had live tracks and four new songs. The Hell Freezes Over Tour followed. In 2012 on The Tavis Smiley Show, Frey told Smiley, "When the Eagles broke up, people used to ask me and Don, 'When are the Eagles getting back together?' We used to answer, 'When Hell freezes over.' We thought it was a pretty good joke. People have the misconception that we were fighting a lot. It is not true. We had a lot of fun. We had a lot more fun than I think people realize." At their first live concert of 1994, Frey told the crowd, "For the record, we never broke up. We just took a 14-year vacation."
The Eagles released the album Long Road Out of Eden in 2007, and Frey participated in the Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden Tour (2008–2011). In May 2012, Frey was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music along with Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit. In 2013, the two-part documentary History of the Eagles, directed by Alison Ellwood and co-produced by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney, was aired on Showtime. The documentary won an Emmy Award in 2013 for Outstanding Sound Mixing For Nonfiction Programming. An accompanying two-year History of the Eagles world tour ended on July 29, 2015 at Bossier City, Louisiana, a concert which would be Frey's final public appearance with the band.
Solo career
After the Eagles disbanded, Frey achieved solo success in the 1980s, especially with two No. 2 hits. In 1984 he recorded in collaboration with Harold Faltermeyer the worldwide hit "The Heat Is On," the main theme from the Eddie Murphy action comedy film Beverly Hills Cop; then, Frey performed "You Belong to the City" (from the television series Miami Vice, the soundtrack of which stayed on top of the U.S. album charts for 11 weeks in 1985). His other contribution to the soundtrack, "Smuggler's Blues", hit No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. During his solo career, Frey had 12 charting songs in the U.S. Top 100. Eleven of those were written with Jack Tempchin, who wrote "Peaceful Easy Feeling".
Frey was the first choice to record "Shakedown", the theme for the film Beverly Hills Cop II. Frey did not like the lyrics and then came down with laryngitis, so the song was given to Bob Seger. After the song went to number one, Frey called to congratulate Seger, saying "At least we kept the money in Michigan!"
Frey contributed the song "Flip City" to the Ghostbusters II soundtrack and "Part of Me, Part of You" to the soundtrack for Thelma & Louise. In 2005 he appeared on B.B. King & Friends: 80 on the track "Drivin' Wheel". In the late 1990s, Frey founded a record company, Mission Records, with attorney Peter Lopez. Frey never released any of his own work on the label, and the company has since disbanded.
In 2009 Glenn Frey was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. On May 8, 2012, he released his first solo album in 20 years, After Hours, featuring covers of pop standards from the 1940s to the 1960s. It would ultimately become his final album before his death.
Acting career
As a television actor, Frey guest starred on Miami Vice in the first-season episode "Smuggler's Blues", inspired by his hit song of the same name, and had a starring role in the "Dead Dog Arc" of Wiseguy. He was also the star of South of Sunset, which was canceled after one episode. In the late 1990s, he guest-starred on Nash Bridges as a policeman whose teenage daughter had run amok and gone on a crime spree with her sociopathic boyfriend. In 2002, he appeared on HBO's Arliss, playing a political candidate who double-crosses Arliss and must pay a high price for it.
Frey's first foray into film was his starring role in Let's Get Harry, a 1986 film about a group of plumbers who travel to Colombia to rescue a friend from a drug lord. Frey also did seven episodes of Wiseguy co-starring with Ken Wahl in 1989. Frey's next film appearance was a smaller role in Cameron Crowe's third film, Jerry Maguire (1996). Frey played the frugal general manager of the Arizona Cardinals football team who, in the film's climax, finally agrees to award Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character, wide receiver Rod Tidwell, a large professional contract.
Personal life
Frey was married twice. From 1983 to 1988, he was married to artist Janie Beggs. He married dancer and choreographer Cindy Millican in 1990. They had three children: a daughter, Taylor, in 1991 and two sons, Deacon in 1993 and Otis in 2002 and remained together until his death. Deacon, following his father's death, toured with the surviving Eagles until he departed in 2022 in favor of a solo career.
Illness and death
From about 2000, Frey had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, which affected his joints. The medication that he was prescribed to control the disease eventually led to colitis and pneumonia; and, in November 2015, the Eagles announced they were postponing their appearance at the Kennedy Center Honors because Frey required surgery for intestinal problems and needed a lengthy recovery period. Because of complications from pneumonia, he never had the surgery and was placed in a medically induced coma at Columbia University Medical Center. Frey died there on January 18, 2016, at the age of 67, from complications of rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia. Medications for rheumatoid arthritis or ulcerative colitis can compromise the immune system's ability to fight off pneumonia. In January 2018, Frey's widow filed a suit against Mount Sinai Hospital and gastroenterologist Steven Itzkowitz for the wrongful death of Frey.
Frey was publicly mourned by his friends, fellow musicians and bandmates, including Don Henley, Randy Meisner, J. D. Souther, Jack Tempchin, Irving Azoff, Linda Ronstadt, Don Felder, and Bob Seger. At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, the remaining members of the Eagles and Jackson Browne performed "Take It Easy" in his honor. A life-sized statue of Frey was unveiled at the Standin' on the Corner Park in Winslow, Arizona, on September 24, 2016, to honor his songwriting contributions to "Take It Easy", made famous by the Eagles as their first single in 1972. The road which runs next to the high school (now a middle school) that he attended in Royal Oak, Michigan bears his name.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Frey
Studio albums
No Fun Aloud (1982)
The Allnighter (1984)
Soul Searchin' (1988)
Strange Weather (1992)
After Hours (2012)
The Heat Is On
Glenn Frey Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Inside your head, on every beat
And the beat's so loud, deep inside
The pressure's high, just to stay alive
'Cause the heat is on
Oh-wo-ho, oh-wo-ho
Caught up in the action I've been looking out for you
(Tell me can you feel it)
(Tell me can you feel it)
(Tell me can you feel it)
The heat is on, the heat is on, the heat is on
Oh it's on the street, the heat is on
Oh-wo-ho, oh-wo-ho
Caught up in the action I've been looking out for you
Oh-wo-ho, oh-wo-ho
(Tell me can you feel it)
(Tell me can you feel it)
(Tell me can you feel it)
The heat is on (yeah) the heat is on, the heat is on
(Burning, burning, burning)
It's on the street, the heat is on
The shadows high on the darker side
Behind the doors, it's a wilder ride
You can make a break, you can win or lose
That's a chance you take, when the heat's on you
When the heat is on
Oh-wo-ho, oh-wo-ho
Caught up in the action I've been looking out for you
Oh-wo-ho, oh-wo-ho
(Tell me can you feel it)
(Tell me can you feel it)
(Tell me can you feel it)
The heat is on (yeah) the heat is on, the heat is on
It's on the street, the heat is on (i can feel the fire)
The heat is on (flames are burning higher)
The heat is on (baby can't you feel it)
Yeah, it's on the street
The heat is on (i can feel it the fire)
The heat is on (flames are burning higher)
"The Heat Is On" is a hit single from Glenn Frey's solo career, released in 1984. The song is most recognized as being the signature tune for the film "Beverly Hills Cop." The chorus appears to refer to the conflict and danger of chasing and solving crime, with the "heat" being the pressure that detectives and police officers must work under, both figuratively and literally. As the song continues, it becomes apparent that the most likely interpretation for the "heat" is the tumultuous excitement of the city streets. In a sense, it represents the excitement of the city that never sleeps. The heat is an intense feeling and captures the rush and anxiety embodied in city life - the pulse of the city is contagious, and it's difficult to ignore it. The song is an anthem for the passionate spirit of the city, where life is lived on the streets.
The song's bridge is part of the reason it has remained as popular as it is. The lyrics break from the rest of the song for a moment to build up to the chorus, creating a moment of anticipation that has become a favorite among fans of the genre. The bridge transitions the song into the chorus with the 'oh-wo-ho' chants, sending the song into overdrive.
Interestingly, "The Heat Is On" initially came about because of the movie "Beverly Hills Cop." The filmmakers needed a song for the film that would represent the intense emotions of the action sequences, and producer Don Simpson suggested that Glenn Frey may be the right artist for the job. Simpson had seen Glenn Frey play in Aspen and imagined that his music would suit the film's theme. Glenn Frey then recruited Harold Faltermeyer to co-write the song and play keyboards.
Line by Line Meaning
The heat is on, on the street
There's a tense atmosphere around and it's especially prevalent in the streets
Inside your head, on every beat
It's something that's affecting everyone at an internal level
And the beat's so loud, deep inside
It's a persistent and overwhelming feeling
The pressure's high, just to stay alive
The stakes are high and there's a sense of danger lurking around
'Cause the heat is on
All of these factors combine and create the heat that's referred to
(Tell me can you feel it)
An invitation to acknowledge the tension and energy surrounding you
Caught up in the action I've been looking out for you
The singer is experiencing the same stressful environment and trying to help someone else navigate it
The shadows high on the darker side
There's an underlying sense of danger and unpredictability present
Behind the doors, it's a wilder ride
Things are more chaotic and intense behind closed doors
You can make a break, you can win or lose
There are possibilities for escape or triumph, but also the chance of failure
That's a chance you take, when the heat's on you
All of these risks are heightened due to the intense atmosphere
(Burning, burning, burning)
An emphasis on how intense and hot the situation is
(i can feel the fire)
The fire has now become a literal presence that can be felt
(flames are burning higher)
The tension is becoming more severe and dangerous
(baby can't you feel it)
An appeal for understanding and a shared experience of the stress and energy
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: HAROLD FALTERMEYER, KEITH FORSEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@rf5210
What could be more 80s than a guitar solo and a saxophone? This is solid gold! Thank you Glen..
@krisfalkenberg
Breaking the silence
Know oneself an understand the land an universe thee is harvest from and constitute itself with. For principles keep us together an united, whom defends the land of the whole hearted. Ordinary common traditions in masses and per pressure or forces, target the heart land to influence its practice, lobby and products, but confidence is in the principle of the soil, not forces whom are under them, power less to influence an wholly. That those who build them (forces), paint a pretty picture and boast the good it does and honors the bad who eat it and do, celebrating with the donated blood. Long speeches aren't loved by all ears, the rest is left for the silent to speak candidly, freeing the animal, as many questions solve an answer.
@CHUNGAandNANOOK
@@krisfalkenbergh’okay buddy
@travisbaxter6597
LIBERTY@@krisfalkenberg
@shelleywinters2582
Amen 🎉
@TerrasaltasBoavista-ur7pf
Verdade.
@Tubes78
Remember when a soundtrack would get you hyped for a movie?
@johnnyvee20
I stumbled upon the Mid90s playlist on Spotify before I knew about the movie. Was so hyped to watch it after hearing the soundtrack.
@TheChameleon703
RIP Glen Frey. Thank you for all your great music. Who's still listening in 2024?? I am.
@AlinaAdam-gk3cn
Meeeee