The only member of the American rock band to appear on all of their albums, Gary Rossington survived the 1977 plane crash that killed several of his bandmates
Gary Rossingtonthe guitarist of Lynyrd Skynyrd died at the age of 71. A cause of death has not been released for the guitarist, who died on Sunday, March 5, nearly four months before the band began their next tour. The guitarist had been dealing with health problems for decades, including a heart attack in 2015 and undergoing heart surgery in 2021.
In an official statement, Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote: “It is with deepest sympathy and sadness that we have to announce that we lost our brother, friend, family member, songwriter and guitarist Gary Rossington today. Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven playing beautifully, as he always does.”
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In 2016, Gary Rossington stated that he had decided to continue playing, despite his health problems.
“It’s just in my blood. I’m just an old guitar player and we’ve spent our whole lives and 10,000 hours of work figuring out how to play and do it. So I think when you have something to do for yourself, you have to pursue it and pursue your art. When you retire, what comes next? I like to fish, but how many of those can you do, right?” he said.
Born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1951, Rossington had been in the band since 1964. He wanted to be a baseball player, but after hearing the Rolling Stones, he turned to music.
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But baseball led to Lynyrd Skynyrd: Rossington, Burns and Junstrom met singer Ronnie Van Zant, who played for a rival baseball team, at a game and they played together in the shed of Burns’ parents’ house.
After a few name changes, they finally settled on Lynyrd Skynyrd, named after Leonard Skinner, a strict teacher at 16-year-old Rossington’s school.
The band’s debut album was released in 1973 and featured the nine-minute track ‘Free Bird’, which became one of Skynyrd’s most famous songs. Rossington co-wrote ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, a hit from their second album, as well as many other Skynyrd tracks including ‘I Ain’t The One’, ‘Things Goin’ On’, ‘Don’t Ask Me No Questions’ and ‘Gimme Back My Bullets’.
In 1977, a plane carrying the band crashed in Mississippi, killing Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister and singer Cassie Gaines, assistant manager Dean Kilpatrick and the two pilots. Twenty people on the plane survived, including Rossington, who fell unconscious and awoke with the plane door on him.
Source :Skai
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