Gary Rossington Lynyrd Skynyrd passes away, 71

6th Mar, 2023

Founding member and guitarist, Gary Rossington, of Lynyrd Skynyrd, has died Sunday (5th March, 2023) at the age of 71.


Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird - 1977 (Youtube)

Rossington, was Lynyrd Skynyrd’s last surviving original member, a stoic figure who preferred to let his guitar do the talking.

Formed in 1964, Rossington along with Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, Larry Junstrom, and Born burns, would popularise Southern Rock, with classics such as Sweet Home Alabama and Free Bird.

The name Lynyrd Skynyrd was 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 in 1973.

A collection of country-tinged blues-rock and Southern soul - Pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd - included what would become classics like Tuesday’s Gone, Simple Man and Gimme Three Steps, but it was the closing track, Free Bird, that became the groups calling card.

It would be Rossingtons weeping slide guitar on Free Bird that would forever cement his name in rock history.

Rossington had cheated death more than once through the years. He survived a brutal 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 infamous 1977 plane crash that killed singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines.

Rossington, who was severely injured, had to learn to play again with steel rods in his arm.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the group No. 95 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

On November 28, 2005, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced that Lynyrd Skynyrd would be inducted alongside Black Sabbath, Blondie, Miles Davis, and the Sex Pistols.




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