Meisner retired from the band in 1977
Eagles founding bassist and vocalist Randy Meisner has died at the age of 77 due to complications from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD). The band shared the news on social media on Thursday (July 27th), one day after the retired member died.
“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,’” the group shares.
As the original bass player for the pioneering country-rock group, Poco, Meisner was at the forefront of the musical revolution that began in Los Angeles, in the late 1960s.
In 1971, Meisner, 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.
Meisner left the Eagles following the group’s Hotel California Tour in September 1977, citing “exhaustion” for his abrupt exit. He decided to leave due to constant bickering within the band and his desire to be more of a family man than touring musician.
“After Hotel California I had been on the road so much and I was married and going then going through a divorce. I thought this whole thing has taken its toll,” he said in a 2009 interview with Smooth Jazz Now Radio. “When you are on the road your whole life you really don’t have a normal life. There were so many books written about the Eagles that said we always bitched at each other but the bottom line is that is in the past now. I don’t want to end up hating every body for the rest of my life and I won’t. I look at the Eagles as just good compadres that I’ve worked with in the past. I have no ill will towards any of them.”
Prior to Poco, he was bassist and vocalist with Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band.
Meisner was born on March 8, 1946 in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
https://www.facebook.com/EaglesBand/posts/pfbid022HEdzHtkBN9xwARe7HC5L1br2EtPBEochZaZ5eXfh8ZkaNwAFMS6D6UZPouB9Ktdl
