![]() ![]() ![]() Lyrnyrd Skynyrd has gone through various formations since then, and still tours regularly to this day. Taking over band leader Ronnie Van Zant’s role in the band would be, fittingly, his younger brother Johnny Van Zant. After a decade, they would reunite, along with guitarist Ed King, who had left the band two years before the crash. Drummer Artimus Pyle, along with two crew members, were able to escape the wreckage and seek help from a local farmer and assist other the rest of the survivors.Īfter the accident, surviving members of the band Gary Rossington, Billy Powell, Leon Wilkeson and Artimus Pyle officially disbanded. Following a concert at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina, the band members boarded a chartered Convair CV-300 to head to a show down at LSU in Baton Rouge, LA the next night.ĭue to a faulty engine draining fuel at an excessive rate, the plane went down over the swamp while pilots attempted an emergency landing at local airport in Gillsburg, Mississippi. The group just had come off an epic summer tour, and had released Street Survivors a mere three days before the shocking accident. With hits such as “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Simple Man,” and “Free Bird,” which features one of the most memorable guitar solos ever, and is a tribute to fallen Allman Brothers Band founding member Duane Allman, Lynyrd Skynyrd was well on their way. The Jacksonville, FL-based band was well on their way into the legendary canon of the rock n’ roll halls, having cleaned up their act of boozing and fighting, at the behest of Van Zant, and turning into an absolute juggernaut of an act, both live and in the studio. Guitarist Allen Collins died in 1990, bassist Leon Wilkeson in 2001, and keyboardist Billy Powell in 2009.One of the most tragic stories in rock history has got to be the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash that took the lives of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, and both pilots of the plane, Walter McCreary and William Gray. Pyle, who left in 1991, is the only other surviving member. Guitarist Gary Rossington is the only founding member and crash survivor still in the band. Skynyrd split up shortly afterward before reuniting in 1987 with Ronnie's youngest brother, Johnny Van Zant, taking over on vocals. With the album cover showing the band engulfed in flames, MCA Records withdrew it and replaced it with the album's back photo, a similar image of the band against a black backdrop. The tour was in support of their fifth album, Street Survivors, which was released three days earlier. However, Johnny Mote, owner of the farmhouse he came upon, mistook him for an escaped convict and fired a warning shot over his head. The pilots were diverted to the McComb-Pike County Airport but ran out of fuel when they attempted an emergency landing before crashing in a heavily wooded area five miles northeast of Gillsburg, Mississippi.ĭrummer Artimus Pyle, who suffered torn chest cartilage, made his way through the forest, a field and creek to get help. The band was en route from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for a show the next night when the chartered Convair CV-300 - previously used by Aerosmith - encountered a faulty engine. ![]() Also killed in the crash were assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick and pilots Walter McCreary and William Gray. They were 28-year-old lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, 28-year-old guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister, 29-year-old background vocalist Cassie Gaines. ![]() Forty-five years ago today, Thursday, October 20th, 1977, three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed when their plane crashed in Mississippi. ![]()
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