Eagles founding member Randy Meisner passes away at 77

Meisner was in the Eagles as its bassist from 1971-77, leaving about a year after the release of "Hotel California," one of the biggest selling albums in music history.

Meisner was born in Scottsbluff Neb. On March 8, 1946.He became interested in playing guitar after seeing Elvis Presley perform on the Ed Sullivan Show. A high school teacher suggested that Meisner switched to bass.

Meisner headed west to California to play music with a band named The Soul Survivors, later called The Poor. The band released singles, but never did well commercially.

Meisner joined country rock band Poco in `9687 with a band including Richie Furay and Jim Messina. He appeared on the debut, "Pickin' Up the Pieces," but quite before the record was released.

In 1969, Meisner joined Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band. He also did session work, playing on James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" and Waylon Jennings' "Singer of Sad Songs" in 1970. At one point, Meisner returned to Nebraska, playing music, while also working at a tractor dealership. He moved back to California and eventually became a backing musician to Linda Ronstadt along with Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Bernie Leadon, who would go onto form the Eagles in September 1971.

Mesiner wrote, co-wrote, and/or sang lead on songs on each of the group's first five albums. He also wrote and sang lead on "Try and Love Again", "Is it True?," "Take the Devil," "Tryin'" and penned "Certain Kind of Fool" with Frey and Henley. He also sang lead on that song.

After Hotel California, Meisner left the band. He was not keen on being the center of attention. He had health and marital problems. Meisner and Frey also reportedly had disagreements and a physical altercation backstage after one show.

Meisner left the band after the end of the tour and returned to Nebraska. He was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit, who remains with the band.

Meisner pursued a solo career, releasing a self-titled disc in 1978 and "One More Song" in 1980. He had a top 20 hit with "Hearts on Fire" on the latter release. He released another self-titled disc in 1982.

In 1985, Meisner became part of an all-star band Black Tie composed of Jimmy Griffin (of Bread) and Billy Swan. The band released one album together in 1990, When the Night Falls. Meisner continued making music, forming a band at oine point with former Firefall singer Rick Roberts before reunited with Poco.

Meisner reportedly approached Eagles manager Irvin Azoff upon hearing rumors of a possible reformation of the band, but said he was rebuffed on several occasions. Meisner appeared at the group's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 1998.

After suffering health issues, Meisner cut back on his touring schedule. He reportedly was asked by the Eagles to take part in their History of the Eagles world tour in 2013, but declined due to health issues.