NEW YORK » Don Felder was still hoping he and Glenn Frey would speak again.

The former Eagles guitarist, estranged from Frey and the other band members since he was forced out of the band in 2001, told The Associated Press that he felt “unbelievable sorrow” when he learned of Frey’s death.

“He was the leader and everybody looked up to him,” Felder said Tuesday of Frey, who died Monday at age 67 after battling a variety of health problems. The two had clashed often, most memorably during a 1980 concert that led to the Eagles’ initial breakup, but Felder said he remembered Frey most for the music they made together and for the “laughter and the parties.”

Felder joined the band in 1974 and helped write the classic song “Hotel California.”