Randy Meisner

For a while, at the dawn of the 1970s, Randy Meisner looked to be one of California rock's also-rans -- a prodigious talent on vocals and bass, he moved up through the ranks of '60s bands and was poised for a big break as a member of Poco, only to exit that band on the eve of the completion of their debut album. And then he got a second bite of the apple as a member of the Eagles, only to quit in the wake of their biggest album, Hotel California. Born in Scottsbluff, NE, in 1946, Meisner co-founded a band called the Dynamics (later the Drivin' Dynamics) in 1961, in which he served as lead singer and bassist. By late 1962, they'd made their first record, produced and released themselves, which included a rendition of Sam Cooke's "You Send Me," sung by Meisner. In 1966, following three years in which the Dynamics saw their audiences and fandom grow steadily from Nebraska to Oklahoma and Texas, Meisner had left the group to join another Midwestern band called the Soul Survivors, who later moved to Los Angeles and changed their name to the Poor -- their other members included Allen Kemp and Patrick Shanahan. They were a serious enough outfit to attract the attention of the Warner Bros. subsidiary Loma Records and also of the Decca label, both of which released several folk-rock-influenced sides by the Poor without success. By 1968, Meisner had begun moving away from folk-influenced rock and into a more country-oriented vein, following a transition that was sweeping across California. He joined a band that was initially called Pogo, later changed to Poco, organized by Richie Furay and Jim Messina out of the collapse their earlier band, the Buffalo Springfield. Poco looked to be one of the hottest new bands heard in Los Angeles in years, doing killer live performances, and...