Biography
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Members
- Bob Seger
- Glenn Frey
#1 The Mushrooms were a garage/rock n'roll band from Thessaloniki, Greece that lived and created in the mid-80's. During this time of their sort life, the Mushrooms delivered two gems of albums that are included in the top moments of Greek rock n'roll ever. Asklipios Zampetas, guitarist, later joined the legendary Greek punk rockers Trypes, while vocalist Pluto was found dead in 2004 after a lethal drug overdose.
#2 Glenn Frey formed the Mushrooms in 1967 with Jeff Burrows, Bill Barnes, Doug Gunch and Larry Mintz.
Glenn Frey was born in Detroit, Michigan. Growing up in Royal Oak, Michigan, he studied piano at 5, 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 Class of '66 students Doug Edwards (later replaced by Lenny Mintz) on drums, Doug Gunsch and Bill Barnes on guitar and Jeff Hodge on bass.
After graduating from high school in 1966, Frey played for a while with the local band The Four of Us, modeled after The Byrds. In 1967 he formed the Mushrooms. The group scored a coup in getting Bob Seger to write their first single and made television appearances to promote it. In the later part of 1967, Frey pulled together another band called Heavy Metal Kids with Steve Burrows (piano), Jeff Alborell (bass), Paul Kelcourse (lead guitar) and Lance Dickerson (drums).
His first professional recording experience, at age 19, was performing acoustic guitar and background vocals on Bob Seger's single, "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" in 1968. 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.
Frey then moved to Los Angeles to follow his then-girlfriend, Joan Sliwin, who was an aspiring singer. He was introduced to J. D. Souther by her sister, Alexandra Sliwin of Honey Ltd., a friend from his Detroit days and Souther's girlfriend at the time. Frey debuted as a recorded songwriter while fronting Longbranch Pennywhistle, a duo with Souther, in 1969. Frey wrote the songs "Run, Boy, Run" and "Rebecca" and co-wrote "Bring Back Funky Women" with Souther for the album Longbranch Pennywhistle. 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.
Frey met drummer Don Henley in 1970. When Linda Ronstadt needed a backup band for a single gig, she hired Frey, Henley, Randy Meisner, and Bernie Leadon on the advice of her boyfriend, J.D. Souther. Frey and Henley later joined Ronstadt's backup band for her 1971 summer tour. Afterwards, Frey, Henley, Meisner and Leadon formed 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 bands 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".
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