Randy Meisner, Eagles Co-Founder, Dead at 77

Randy Meisner, bassist and founding member of the Eagles who wrote and sang “Take it to the Limit,” died on Wednesday. He was 77 years old.

The Eagles confirmed Meisner’s death in a statement on their website, stating he died from complications from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD).

“The Eagles are sad to report that founding member, bassist, and vocalist, Randy Meisner, passed away last night in Los Angeles,” the band wrote. “Randy was an integral part of the Eagles and instrumental in the early success of the band. His vocal range was astonishing, as is evident on his signature ballad, ‘Take It to the Limit.’”

https://youtu.be/MMSeyp0p09w

That song, released off 1975’s One of These Nights, showcased Meisner’s talent — and his soaring falsetto was so iconic that it later inspired Fred Armisen in The Blue Jean Committee, his Seventies parody rock band with Bill Hader from Documentary Now!

Randall Herman Meisner was born on March 8, 1946 in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Prior to the Eagles, he was the founding bassist in Poco, which he formed in 1968 with Buffalo Springfield’s Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Meisner left the group after the release of their debut Pickin’ Up the Pieces and briefly joined Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band.

He then became a member Linda Ronstadt’s backing band alongside Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Bernie Leadon. 1971, they parted ways with Ronstadt, signed to David Geffen’s Asylum Records, and named themselves the Eagles.

Meisner spent the next six years with the band, singing on tracks like “Tryin’” (1972’s The Eagles), “Certain Kind of Fool” (1973’s Desperado), and “Midnight Flyer” (1974’s On the Border). He also found himself navigating the intense creative direction of Henley and Frey.

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

04:26

After the Eagles, he released solo albums, reunited with Poco and played on records with the likes of Joe Walsh, Dan Fogelberg, Richard Marx, Bob Welch and James Taylor

Meisner was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the Eagles in 1998.

Tragedy struck Meisner’s personal life in 2016 when his wife, Lana Rae Meisner, was fatally shot in the couple’s Los Angeles home after an “accidental discharge of a firearm,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Views: 3