Gary Rossington: Lynyrd Skynyrd’s last founding member dies aged 71
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Gary Rossington, the sole surviving founding member of the American rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, passed away at the age of 71.
He was a founding member of the band and co-wrote the 1974 hit song Sweet Home Alabama. On each of their albums, he is present.
He also made it through the 1977 plane crash that claimed the lives of numerous band members.
Rossington has been performing despite recent heart problems up until February.
A statement on the band’s Facebook page
We grieve to announce the passing of Gary Rossington, who was our brother, friend, family member, musician, and composer. Accept our heartfelt sympathy.
Currently in paradise, Gary is behaving kindly, as he normally does, with his Beloved brothers and relatives.
According to a band post at the time, Rossington had heart surgery in 2021, but no precise reason of death was given.
Florida native Rossington, who was born in 1951, co-founded the original Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1964 as Me, You, and Him with drummer Bob Burns and bassist Larry Junstrom.
As a game that summer turned into a jam session, they brought in vocalist Ronnie Van Zant from a competing baseball club.
Their high school gym instructor, who had a reputation for disciplining kids with long hair, inspired them to choose the moniker Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Free Bird
In the southern states of America, the band’s defiant blues-rock gave them a frightening live reputation. The nine-minute epic Free Bird from their debut album, Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, features Rossington’s trademark slide guitar playing.
“We always said we had a lot of guts back then, or gumption, whatever you call it, for playing a song that long,” the guitarist continued in an interview with Guitar World.
“Singles only last two, three, and if you’re lucky five years. Free Bird was played for nine minutes. The song will never be played again, they said. You people are crazy.
But, after performing with The Who, a modified version of the song reached the American top 20, and Skynyrd won over a devoted following.
Sweet Home Alabama, the band’s lone hit in the UK and a critical response to Neil Young’s Southern Man, peaked at number 31 in the charts in 1974.
It continues to be popular, making it the most-streamed song from 1974 in the UK.
Rossington collaborated on several of Skynyrd’s most well-known songs, including I Ain’t The One, Things Going On, Don’t Ask Me No Questions, and Gimme Back My Bullets.
That Smell, a song by Van Zant about the band’s hedonistic lifestyle that was composed after Rossington smashed his Ford Torino into a tree while under the influence of booze and narcotics, was also influenced by him.
The lyrics included warnings such as “Tomorrow might not be here for you,” “the aroma of death surrounds you,” and others.
The lyrics included warnings such as “Tomorrow might not be here for you,” “the aroma of death surrounds you,” and others.
Oddly, three days after it was released, a plane bringing the band between shows crashed in Mississippi, killing Van Zant, the backing singer Cassie Gaines, Steve Gaines’ sister Dean Kilpatrick, both pilots, and assistant tour manager Dean Kilpatrick.
One of the twenty survivors was Rossington, who was knocked unconscious and awakened to discover the plane’s door on top of him.
I’ve spoken about it here and there, but I don’t like to, Rossington told Rolling Stone in 2006.
“What a horrible thing that was. You can’t just talk about it casually and feel nothing.
The surviving members decided to cease after the disaster. After sustaining a severe accident, Rossington had to relearn how to play sports with steel rods in his arm.
Before reuniting in 1987 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the disaster, Lynyrd Skynyrd formed The Rossington Collins Band with a number of his former bandmates, featuring Johnny Van Zant on lead vocals.
The band persevered, putting out nine studio albums, changing over 25 times, and was recognised in 2010 by being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
At the 2016 Republican National Convention, where Donald Trump was chosen as the party’s candidate for president, they also gave a stage performance.
‘So much joy
Several musicians honoured the guitarist. For “bringing me so much delight with your guitar playing and songwriting in one of my all-time favourite bands,” Metallica frontman James Hetfield lauded Rossington.
Travis Tritt, a pioneer of country music, expressed his “heartbreak,” mentioning Gary as a buddy and colleague who regularly played guitar and wrote songs with him in the studio and live. RIP.
Gary Rossington American musician
