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The Eagles: 'I'm still processing Glenn's death'

The Eagles' singer/songwriter, Don Henley, says he is still processing the sudden death of frontman Glenn Frey, as he prepares to tour solo in Australia.

The band was in the early stages of planning another reunion tour in March 2016 when Glenn went to hospital for gastrointestinal tract surgery and he died unexpectedly from complications.

Glenn was 67.

"Yeah, still processing it, it has got to be processed for a long time," Don Henley said.

"It hasn't even been a year yet, you know."

"It happened rather suddenly. There had been some health problems for a while but we thought they were under control and it just happened quickly."

Despite being one of the most successful bands of the 70s — peaking in 1976 with Hotel California — The Eagles' had a very public and bitter split in 1980, vowing to work again 'when hell freezes over'.

It was 14 years before the old friends could put their differences aside and reunite for the aptly named Hell Freezes Over Tour.

"Oh it was fantastic."

"Some nights when we were particularly tired, you know, like somebody would forget the songs we have been playing for 30-40 years, you just go blank."

"There were a lot of funny moments."

During The Eagles' hiatus Don made a name for himself as a solo artist — with hits including Boys of Summer — and says the days of The Eagles were tumultuous but 'thrilling'.

"Oh it was thrilling, just thrilling you know there is something about it that speaks to your core you know singing and blending with other voices and finding harmony parts."

Don Henley and Glenn Frey first met in Los Angeles when they joined Linda Ronstadt’s backing band.

They decided to form a band of their own and on a trip to the desert settled on a name when Glenn thought he saw an eagle.

"I don’t think it was an eagle it was a hawk… we were very high… yeah we could have been The Hawks."

"We wanted to see the world and we wanted to play music for people, we wanted girls to like us"

The Eagles made it big, fast their self-titled first album delivered three number one hits.

"It was scary, sometimes success can be just as frightening if not more frightening than failure you know

"There is the pressure on you to repeat it, to stay there you know, it's not that difficult to get to the top of the mountain, it is just hard to stay there."

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