Little did Linda Ronstadt know she was hatching Glenn Frey and Don Henley as the Eagles in the early 1970s when she hired them to play in her band and made them roommates while touring.
Frey, usually identified as co-founder with Henley of the chart-topping Eagles, died Monday at 67 from a combination of rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Ronstadt hired Henley as her drummer and Frey to replace Bernie Leadon, who left her band to play for the Flying Burrito Brothers. Ronstadt had dated songwriter J.D. Souther, who was in a band with Frey, Longbranch Pennywhistle, when he needed a guitarist.
"They were all great musicians," Ronstadt said on Monday, "but what I was most interested in creating was a harmony band, and they were a great harmony band."
In her 2014 autobiography "Simple Dreams: A Musicial Memoir," reported on by Billboard magazine, Ronstadt said because of tight expenses while touring, they put Frey and Henley together as roommates.
"… They each discovered the other could sing and was a great songwriter," said Ronstadt. "Glenn used to call Don his secret weapon. He said, 'I'm gonna do a band with Don. We're gonna do a band together.' I said, 'That's a great idea.'"
"So we all talked about it. (Producer) John (Boylan) said, 'I can help you do this. I can help you put this band together, and while you're waiting to get a record deal, you can play with Linda and you can have a gig.' It was one of those kinds of situations where it was in everybody's advantage," said Ronstadt.
After touring together with Ronstadt in 1971, Frey and Henley formed the Eagles and its self-titled debut album included such hits as "Take It Easy," "Witchy Woman" and "Peaceful Easy Feeling," according to a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame biography.
The Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. It would be Frey who gave the speech at Ronstadt's own induction into the hall of fame in 2014, according to Ultimate Classic Rock.com.
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