![\"Glenn](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Glenn-Frey-Musician-The-Eagles-2010-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credits: Far Out \/ Steve Alexander)<\/p>\n
Sat 10 May 2025 18:15, UK <\/p>\n
Rock and roll has always been selective regarding the most outstanding vocal performances of all time. Either songs can have some of the most operatic vocals that anyone has ever heard, or they are carried by their charismatic singers like Bob Dylan or David Lee Roth whenever they play. And while Glenn Frey<\/a> did have his fair share of charisma offstage when he was in Eagles, there was no denying that everyone was coming to hear them harmonise when they took the stage.<\/p>\n Whereas most California rock bands explored the complexity of harmony like Crosby, Stills, and Nash, there was a certain divine quality to hearing Eagles on the radio. Even though they were far from the greatest band in the world, there\u2019s something about the vocals on a track like \u2018Desperado\u2019 that made them sound like a group of cowboy-themed angels crying out for salvation from the gods.<\/p>\n And while most of the attention was paid to Don Henley, it was always easy to hear the people at the centre of it all. Frey was always the one with the everyman voice that anyone could sing along to, but there was also Timothy B Schmitt singing like a bird whenever they gave him songs like \u2018Love Will Keep Us Alive\u2019.<\/p>\n Despite all of the rock credentials that the band needed in the early days, though, that was far from the only music that Frey was listening to. He had come from the mean streets of Detroit before he moved to Los Angeles, and whereas most kids his age would have probably been blasting bands like The Stooges, he was more interested in what was happening at Motown Records half the time.<\/p>\n After all, what better place to learn harmony than some of the best in the business? The Temptations may have had the sweet dance moves, but judging how bands like them, The Four Tops, and The Miracles sang, that intense understanding of vocal harmony was moulded into Frey\u2019s brain before he sang his first note. But all of the great soul singers get it from somewhere, and there wasn\u2019t a soul on this Earth trying to pack more emotion in their performance than Nat King Cole.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful song, and I really wanted to stay close to Nat King Cole\u2019s original version, which was perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n Glenn Frey<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Frey may have respected many soul legends, but he was almost too scared to touch Cole\u2019s performance when he did his version of \u2018For Sentimental Reasons\u2019, saying<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful song, and I really wanted to stay close to Nat King Cole\u2019s original version, which was perfect. He was such a great piano player and an effortless singer.\u201d What\u2019s even scarier is that Cole\u2019s isn\u2019t even the only perfect vocal the song has to its name.<\/p>\n\n