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The Eagles announced that Deacon Frey — Glenn Frey‘s son — who’s been a part of the band since 2017, has officially left the group. Back in February before resuming their band’s ongoing Hotel California dates, the band issued a statement explaining that Deacon’s absence was due to a medical situation and that his “rejoining the band for performances will be based on his recovery and doctor’s recommendations.”
A new statement was posted across the band’s various social media accounts announcing his formal departure and reads:
Deacon Frey has devoted the past 4½ years to carrying on his father’s legacy and, after some weeks of reflection, he now feels that it is time for him to forge his own path. We understand, completely, and we support him in whatever he wishes to pursue in the years ahead. In the wake of his dad’s demise, Deacon, at age 24, did an extraordinary thing by stepping from relative anonymity into the very public world of his father’s long illustrious career.
We are grateful to Deacon for his admirable efforts and we wish him well as he charts his future. Deacon’s Eagles Family will always be here to surround him with love, support and goodwill, and he is always welcome to join us onstage at any future concerts, if he so desires. We hope our fans will join us in wishing Deacon the very best as he moves into the next phase of his career.
– Eagles
Joe Walsh admitted to us that it took time and soul searching for the Eagles to find a genuine way to carry on without its leader and driving force, Glenn Frey, who died in 2016: “We spent a long time after Glenn passed in discussions and we needed to put some time in there. But, in the course of talking, we started think ‘If the Eagles continued, what would that be?’ Gradually, some clarity started to come on it and we reached out to Glenn’s son Deacon — and he’s a pretty good musician. And he said, ‘Anything I can do — I’m in.’”
During a chat with Australia’s The Sunday Project, Don Henley revealed the moment that he realized the Eagles could find a way to go on without Glenn Frey through his son: “I saw him get up and sing by himself at his father’s memorial service. I’m sure it was very difficult for him, but he was very composed and he sang well. Later on the idea, sort of, germinated in my head and I thought, ‘Deacon could probably do this if he wanted to.’”