Eagles co-founder and bass player Randy Meisner has died at the age of 77. Before Eagles, Randy was also a member of Poco and Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band.
In a statement Eagles have announced:
The Eagles are sad to report that founding member, bassist, and vocalist, Randy Meisner, passed away last night (July 26) in Los Angeles at age 77, due to complications from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD).
As the original bass player for the pioneering country-rock group, Poco, Randy was at the forefront of the musical revolution that began in Los Angeles, in the late 1960s.
In 1971, Randy, along with Glenn Frey, Don Henley, and Bernie Leadon, formed the Eagles and contributed to the band’s albums, Eagles, Desperado, On The Border, One of These Nights, and Hotel California. He was inducted with the Eagles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
“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,’” said the Eagles.
Prior to Poco, he was bassist and vocalist with Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band.
Randy was born on March 8, 1946, in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Former Eagle Don Felder posted, “Randy was one of the nicest, sweetest, most talented, and funniest guys I’ve ever known. It breaks my heart to hear of his passing. His voice stirred millions of souls every time he sang Take It To The Limit. The crowd would EXPLODE with cheers and applause. We had some wild and wicked fun memories together, brother. God bless you Randy for bringing so many people joy and happiness. RIP, my friend.”
Meisner formed Eagles with Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Bernie Leadon in 1971. The four founding members of Eagles had previously been Linda Rondstadt’s backing band. They all played on Linda’s third album.
David Geffen signed Eagles to his new label Asylum and the band released its debut album ‘Eagles’ in 1972. It contained ‘Take It Easy’, ‘Witchy Woman’ and Peaceful Easy Feeling’ as well as Meisner’s ‘Take The Devil’ and ‘Tryin’. Meisner sang lead vocal on those two songs as well as Glenn Frey’s ‘Most Of Us Are Sad’.
On the second album ‘Desperado’ (1973), Randy co-wrote ‘Certain Kind of Fool’ and ‘Saturday Night’ as well as singing ‘Saturday Night’ with Don Henley.
1974’s ‘On The Border’ featured Randy’s ‘Is It True?’ with Randy singing lead on that song and ‘Midnight Flyer’.
On 1975’s ‘One of These Nights’ Randy Meisner co-wrote (and sang lead vocals) on ‘Too Many Hand’ (with Don Felder) and the now classic ‘Take It To The Limit’ (with Don Henley and Glenn Frey).
Randy’s final album with Eagles was ‘Hotel California’ in 1976. He wrote and sang lead vocal on ‘Try and Love Again’.
Randy left Eagles in September 1977 citing exhaustion. He was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit.
Randy began his solo career after leaving the band releasing his debut solo album ‘Randy Meisner’ in 1978. It contained a new solo version of his Eagles classic ‘Take It To The Limit’.
Randy’s second solo album ‘One More Song’ in 1980 gave him his first solo hit ‘Deep Inside My Heart’ (with Kim Carnes). The song reached no 22 in the USA and no 34 in Australia.
Before Eagles, Randy had a short tenure with Poco, appearing on the groups first album. Meisner quit the band before the release of the album and was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit (who would also replace him in Eagles).
Meisner then joined Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band in 1969. He is the bass player for Rick’s ‘Rudy the Fifth’. He co-produced Nelson’s ‘Live At The Troubadour’ album and co-wrote the Nelson song ‘I Wanna Be With You’.
Randy Meisner also appears on two tracks on James Taylor’s ‘Sweet Baby James’ album, ‘Country Road’ and ‘Blossom’.
In 1971, producer John Boylan brought in Meisner to work with Linda Ronsdadt with a band featuring Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon and Don Henley. Boylan’s curation of Linda’s musicians put the pieces of Eagles together for the first time.
Randy’s last known public performance was in 2008 in Florida. He did not contribute to Eagles ‘History of the Eagles’ due to health reasons. His final album was his third album ‘Randy Meisner’ in 1982.
Randy contributed to Richie Furay’s livestream concert in August 2020 via video from his home singing backing vocals for Buffalo Springfield’s ‘For What Its Worth’. His last appearance was for again with Richie singing backing vocals for the Poco song ‘Pickin’ Up the Pieces’ but he also joined Joe Walsh in November 2020 for a radio show on 88.5FM.
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