Don Henley’s Only Condition To Continue The Eagles Without Glenn Frey

While disbandment decisions are widespread in the music industry, losing a band member is another story. It is a pretty challenging process for the surviving band members, which makes them consider whether to continue as a band or call their quits. Even though many notable bands like the Rolling Stones and AC/DC have carried on after losing Brian Jones and Bon Scott, Led Zeppelin ended their career following the passing of their talented drummer John Bonham.

These are all tough decisions, so there is no right or wrong way of dealing with the death of a bandmate. In the end, it is all up to the remaining band members. They can either replace their late bandmate with a new member or part their ways. The Grammy-winning band, the Eagles, also underwent a similar process when they lost their founding member, Glenn Frey.

Glenn Frey Passed Away In 2016

As a founding member of the Eagles, Glenn Frey played a considerable role in the band’s massive success. He shared the lead vocals with Don Henley, besides playing the guitar, piano, and keyboard. His voice can be heard in many Eagles classics like ‘Take It Easy,’ ‘Tequila Sunrise,’ and ‘New Kid in Town.’ In addition to his glorious Eagles career, the singer proved himself also as a successful solo artist with the five albums he released.

Unfortunately, the famous musician passed away at 67, on January 18, 2016, due to rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, and pneumonia complications. Following his death, prominent names in the rock music world shared touching messages to express their sadness. Still, it was harder to handle for his remaining band members. Let’s see what Don Henley thought about continuing without him.

Don Henley Wanted Deacon Frey To Join The Eagles

After the Eagles lost their beloved member Glenn Frey, they opted to continue staying in the music scene by adding a new bandmate, Deacon Frey. He took over the duties of his late father and started performing with them in 2017. After touring with the band and playing a run of shows for nearly five years, Deacon left the band in April this year to pursue a solo career.

In a previous interview with Rolling Stone in 2017, just after Deacon participated in the Eagles, Don Henley revealed that having Deacon Frey in the band was his only condition to continue without the late Glenn Frey. Otherwise, carrying on with a new member wouldn’t be right. Henley explained that he wanted family blood in the band and praised Deacon for his success.

Here is what Don Henley said about continuing without Glenn Frey:

The only way it felt justified to me was to have family blood in the band. And I have to hand it to Deacon. We rehearsed for a couple of months. And his first gig with us was at Dodger Stadium. He had done some gigs with his father – private parties, clubs, in front of maybe 200 people. To go from that to 55,000 people is extraordinary. I don’t know many people who could have done that without freaking out.”

Don Henley highlighted that they had started rehearsing their first gig with Deacon Frey months before. Although Deacon was used to performing in front of an audience, he hadn’t played in big venues to a large crowd. However, Henley was quite glad about his self-confident debut performance.