As co-founder of the Eagles, singer and songwriter Glenn Frey mastered the mixing of rock'n' roll with country music, and the band's hits - including Hotel California and Take It Easy, both cowritten by Frey - helped define the 1970s.

Frey died on Monday of complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis and pneumonia in New York aged 67. He was born in Detroit and formed the band with Don Henley in 1971 in Los Angeles.

Frey and Henley came from humble beginnings after playing backup to another legend, Linda Ronstadt, later forming the Eagles when signing with David Geffen's Asylum Records. Their sound would go on to successfully blend rock and country - something that others tried but was mastered by the Eagles. Who else has won Grammy Awards - stretched across 1975 and 2008 - in the rock, pop and country categories?

The band released some of the most popular songs of the 1970s: Take It Easy, written by Frey and Jackson Browne, is irresistible with Frey singing lead and the band's harmonies intact, and Hotel California, the moody soft rock track, is simply a classic.

And Hotel California was just one of the Eagles' tunes to peak atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart: Heartache Tonight, New Kid In Town, One of These Nights and Best of My Love also went to No 1.