Randy Meisner has died. A founding member of legendary rock band the Eagles, Meisner provided bass and vocals for the group, and co-wrote their 1975 hit “Take It To The Limit,” on which he also sang lead. After Meisner departed the band in 1977—thanks, in no small part, to disagreements over his nervousness over singing the vocally tricky “Take It To The Limit” in concert—he continued to play and perform for the next three decades, until health concerns ended his career in 2008. Per THR, Meisner died on Wednesday night in a Los Angeles hospital from complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 77.
Born in Nebraska, Meisner started playing music early, touring and performing with a number of early bands in the Midwest. (Most notably the Drivin’ Dynamics, with whom he’d reunite for shows almost 40 years later.) A move to California got him noticed in Los Angeles’ session player scene, and he performed stints in Poco and the Stone Canyon Band. Facing early setbacks—at one point, he was replaced on the cover of a Poco album by a dog, after he quit the band unhappily—Meisner briefly retreated to Nebraska, where he worked for a time at a John Deere dealership. But after he was lured back to L.A., he began performing with the coalition of musicians working as backup performers for Linda Rondstadt—which is where he met Glen Frey, Don Henley, and Bernie Leadon.
The four founded the Eagles together in 1971, and were quickly signed to Asylum Records. Meisner played bass on all of the band’s early albums, writing songs for each of them—although it wasn’t until “Limit,” on 1975’s breakthrough album One Of These Nights, that he had a certified hit. One Of These Nights cemented the Eagles as musical superstars, but it also sowed the seeds for Meisner’s eventual departure. The grueling process of recording the album’s follow-up, Hotel California, and then touring it, exacerbated both tensions in the band, and Meisner’s personal and health problems. He was also a famously shy performer, who found himself suddenly thrust into the spotlight, especially as the high-note-filled “Take It To The Limit” became a key part of the band’s encores. Meisner’s refusal to perform the song at a performance in Tennessee was reportedly the last straw between him and his bandmates, leading to a fist fight with Frey; soon after, he departed the band officially.
In the aftermath of his departure from the Eagles, Meisner continued to perform and play; he’d ultimately release three solo albums over the next 30-odd years, and several other collaborations, to mixed, but sometimes pronounced, success. During this period, Meisner’s music appeared in public through work with Black Tie, the Roberts-Meisner Band (with Rick Roberts), and Randy Meisner and the Silverados. Although he would occasionally work together with Frey and Henley on musical projects, relations with his fellow Eagles were still occasionally tense—although he took the stage with the band in 1998 for their induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
The last decade-plus of Meisner’s life was a less happy affair, though, dotted by struggles with alcohol abuse, health issues, and tragedy. He was placed for a brief time under a conservatorship in 2015, with a judge citing his issues with substance abuse; the next year, his wife Lana died after what was ruled to be an accident with a rifle she was holding in their home.
Meisner’s death was confirmed today by the Eagles’ web site. In a statement, the bands’ members 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.’”
