Randy Meisner, an original member of the Eagles who contributed high harmonies to hits like “Take It Easy” and “The Best of My Love” and took the lead on the waltz-tempo ballad “Take It to the Limit,” passed away on Thursday, the group announced.
The Eagles released a statement on Meisner’s passing on Wednesday night in Los Angeles due to complications from chronic obstructive lung disease. He was 77.
The bassist had suffered from a number of illnesses in recent years, and in 2016, his wife, Lana Rae Meisner, inadvertently shot and killed herself. According to court documents and remarks made during a 2015 hearing in which a judge ordered Randy Meisner to get continuous medical care, Meisner had been identified as having bipolar disorder and had serious alcohol problems.
The baby-faced Meisner joined Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Bernie Leadon in the early 1970s to establish a classic Los Angeles band and one of the most well-known groups in history, earning the nickname “the sweetest man in the music business” from former bandmate Don Felder.
“Randy was an integral part of the Eagles and instrumental in the early success of the band,” the Eagles’ statement said. “His vocal range was astonishing, as is evident on his signature ballad, ‘Take It to the Limit.'”
The Eagles released a string of successful singles and albums over the following ten years, beginning with “Take It Easy” and continuing with songs like “Desperado,” “Hotel California,” and “Life in the Fast Lane,” among others, as they transitioned from country music to hard rock. The Eagles released two of the best-selling albums of all time, “Hotel California” and “Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975),” despite being criticized by many critics as slick and superficial. With 38 million combined sales, the Recording Industry Association of America ranked these albums alongside Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” as the best-selling albums of all time.
The Eagles, led by singers Henley and Frey, were once categorized as “mellow” and “easy listening.” However, by the time of their third album, “On the Border,” which was released in 1974, they had added a rock guitarist named Felder and were moving away from country and bluegrass.
Leadon, a traditional bluegrass picker, left after the 1975 release of the album “One of These Nights” because he didn’t like the new sound. (Joe Walsh, another rock guitarist, took his position.) The band’s most well-known album, “Hotel California,” was released in 1976, and Meisner stayed on till then. However, he left the group not long after. Ironically, the song “Take It to the Limit,” which he co-wrote and for which he was best known, was what ultimately prompted his departure.
Meisner, a bashful Nebraskan divided between stardom and family life, was reluctant to take the lead in “Take It to the Limit,” a song that would highlight his nasal tenor, because he had been unwell and homesick during the “Hotel California” tour (his first marriage was ending). In the summer of 1977, Meisner objected to Frey’s performance in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the two got into a fight backstage. Shortly after, Meisner quit. Timothy B. Schmit, who succeeded him, continued with the band for decades, along with Henley, Walsh, and Frey, who passed away in 2016.
Meisner never achieved the same level of fame as the Eagles as a solo artist, but he did have singles with “Hearts On Fire” and “Deep Inside My Heart” and contributed to albums by Walsh, James Taylor, Dan Fogelberg, and other artists. Even though Meisner had played on all but one of the Eagles’ earlier studio recordings, they resumed touring in 1994 after a 14-year sabbatical. He did perform “Take It Easy” and “Hotel California” with the Beatles in 1998 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He spent ten years performing with the World Classic Rockers, a traveling band that featured Donovan, Spencer Davis, and Denny Laine at various points.
Meisner had three children from his two marriages, the first of which occurred when he was still in his teens.
Meisner, a sharecropper’s son and a classical violinist’s grandson, began performing in local bands as a youngster. By the end of the 1960s, he had gone to California and, along with Richie Furay and Jimmy Messina, had joined the country rock band Poco. But he would recall being upset that Furay quit the band before their debut album was out because he wouldn’t allow him hear the studio mix: Timothy B. Schmit was his replacement.
Meisner played on Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James” record, supported Ricky Nelson, and made friends with Henley and Frey while they were all members of Linda Ronstadt’s band.
They established the Eagles with Ronstadt’s approval, signed with David Geffen’s Asylum Records label, and issued their self-titled debut album in 1972.
The majority of the time, Frey and Henley sang lead, although Meisner was the driving force behind “Take It the Limit.” It first featured on the 1975 album “One of These Nights” and went on to become a top 5 single. Etta James and Willie Nelson also performed it as a duet.
