![]() ![]() Johnny Van Zant helped introduce Lynyrd Skynyrd to a new generation and became the group's lead singer in 1987. Van Zant was confident, while relaxed and had an incredible stage presence. Not only were Lynyrd Skynyrd's albums proving to be commercially successful, but the band became a beloved concert act. Van Zant and his band mates met as teens and their dreams were becoming a reality. He was the lead singer, main songwriter, and oversaw the artistic vision of the group. ![]() Not only did he have a busy touring schedule, but was the glue behind the band. Ronnie Van Zant, during his Lynyrd Skynyrd years, was a hard-working young man. Did Ronnie Van Zant Predict His Own Demise? Van Zant often thought about his own mortality, which poses the question on whether he predicted his premature death before it happened. In the height of the band's popularity, a tragic plane accident occurred which claimed the lives of Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, singer Cassie Gaines, and others. "Sweet Home Alabama", perhaps the band's most iconic work, has become a rock staple and a karaoke classic. "I think the good outweighs the bad.Lynyrd Skynyrd enjoyed its greatness success in the 1970s and became a household name to a generation. "I don't think of it as tragedy - I think of it as life," he said upon the group's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2006. Rossington told Rolling Stone that he never considered Skynyrd to be a tragic band, despite all the band's drama and death. A collection of country-tinged blues-rock and Southern soul, the album included now-classics like "Tuesday's Gone," "Simple Man" and "Gimme Three Steps," but it was the closing track, the nearly 10-minute "Free Bird," that became the group's calling card, due in no small part to Rossington's evocative slide playing on his Gibson SG. Rossington, Burns, Van Zant, and guitarist Allen Collins gathered that afternoon at Burns' Jacksonville home to jam the Rolling Stone's "Time Is on My Side."Īdopting Lynyrd Skynyrd as the group's name - both a reference to a similarly named sports coach at Rossington's high school and to a character in the 1963 novelty hit "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" - the band released their debut album (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) in 1973. Upon meeting drummer Bob Burns and bassist Larry Junstrom, Rossington and his new friends formed a band, which they tried to juggle amid their love of baseball.Īccording to Rolling Stone, it was during a fateful Little League game, Ronnie Van Zant hit a line drive into the shoulder blades of opposing player Bob Burns and met his future bandmates. 4, 1951, in Jacksonville, Florida, and raised by his mother after his father died. He survived a car accident in 1976 in which he drove his Ford Torino into a tree, inspiring the band's cautionary song "That Smell." A year later, he emerged from the 1977 plane crash that killed singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines, with two broken arms, a broken leg, and a punctured stomach and liver. ![]() Rossington cheated death more than once, Rolling Stone reported. Please keep Dale, Mary, Annie and the entire Rossington family in your prayers and respect the family's privacy at this difficult time." ![]() "Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does. "It is with our deepest sympathy and sadness that we have to advise, that we lost our brother, friend, family member, songwriter and guitarist, Gary Rossington, today," the band wrote on Facebook. Gary Rossington, Lynyrd Skynyrd's last surviving original member who also helped to found the group, died Sunday at the age of 71. ![]()
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