Randy Meisner Dies: Eagles Founding Bassist Was 77

Randy Meisner, the co-founding Eagles bassist whose soaring voice powered their massive hit “Take It To the Limit,” died Wednesday night from complications caused by chronic pulmonary disease, a statement from the band said. He was 77.

“Randy was an integral part of the Eagles and instrumental in the early success of the band,” the band said in the statement. “His vocal range was astonishing, as is evident on his signature ballad, ‘Take It to the Limit.’”

Before he co-founded the group, Meisner played with Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band and was the original bass player for country-rock group Poco in the late 1960s.

Born on March 8, 1946, in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, Meisner was part of Eagles from their self-titled 1972 debut album through 1976’s Hotel California, quitting the group in 1977 amid internal feuding and behind-the-scenes turmoil. He was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit, who also had succeeded Meisner in Poco after he left to form the Eagles.

Commonly known as the Eagles but with no “the” on album covers, the group started out as Linda Ronstadt’s backup band in early-1970s Los Angeles — also featuring Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Bernie Leadon — and would become one of the world’s biggest acts. The RIAA ranks the band ranks fourth for all-time album U.S. sales with 120 million, including 14 platinum discs. The 1976 compilation set Their Greatest Hits (1971-75) is the top-selling album in U.S. history at more than 38 million units.

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The group’s 1972 debut LP featured such now-classic tracks as “Take It Easy,” “Witchy Woman” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and reached the U.S. top 25. They followed with Desperado (1973) and On the Border (1974), the latter of which spawned their first No. 1 single, “Best of My Love” and also featured “Already Gone” and “James Dean.”

Solidified as hitmakers, the Eagles went through the roof with their next album. One of These Nights spent five weeks at No. 1 in 1975 and was nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy. It produced three top 5 singles in the No. 1 title track along with “Lyin’ Eyes” — which earned the group a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal — and “Take It to the Limit.”

Leadon was replaced by solo act and ex-James Gang leader Joe Walsh, and the result was 1976’s Hotel California, an out-of-the-box smash that helped fuel the rise of the mega-album in the 1970s. It spent eight weeks at No. 1, produced two chart-topping singles and is the third-biggest-selling albums in U.S. history at 26 million-plus units. Steeped in stories about the less-glamorous side of life in the SoCal fast lane, it features such classics as the title track, “New Kid in Town” — both of which topped the Billboard Hot 100 — “Life in the Fast Lane” and the haunting “The Last Resort.”

Meisner sang lead vocals on songs for each of the Eagles’ first five albums — all of which are million-sellers — and wrote a number of the band’s tunes including “Try and Love Again,” “Take the Devil” and “Certain Kind of Fool.”

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Eagles in 1998.

Meisner released three solo albums after leaving Eagles. His self-titled 1978 set failed to chart in the U.S. but was a hit in Canada. One More Song reached No. 50 on the Billboard 200 in 1980 and spawned the singles “Deep Inside My Heart,” with Kim Carnes on backing vocals. And “Hearts on Fire,” which hit the Billboard Hot 100’s Top 20 and was an FM hit. A third solo effort, also titled Randy Meisner, was a lesser hit in 1982, and its single “Never Been in Love” made the pop Top 30.

Erik Pedersen contributed to this report.