Eagles guitarist Glenn Frey passes away at 67

The founding member of the US rock group had been suffering from intestinal problems for several months and had surgery in November.

Frey was born in Detroit in 1948, moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s and began writing songs. After meeting Henley in 1970, the pair formed Eagles and released their self-titled debut two years later. The band was wildly successful in the 1970s, selling some 100m albums in the US alone, and a further 50m worldwide.

Frey co-wrote and sang some of the Eagles' best-known songs, including Heartache Tonight, Take It Easy, and Lyin' Eyes, and co-wrote Hotel California and Desperado with Don Henley. 

"Glenn was the one who started it all," Henley wrote. "He was the spark plug, the man with the plan. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music and a work ethic that wouldn't quit. He was funny, bull-headed, mercurial, generous, deeply talented and driven." Frey and Henley later became estranged and that rift kept the band apart in the 1980s. Henley had vowed Eagles would reunite only when "hell freezes over", which became the name of the subsequent 1994 album.