Posted on 03/05/2023 10:13:10 PM PST by DoodleBob
Gary Rossington, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s last surviving original member who also helped to found the group, died Sunday at the age of 71. No cause of death was given.
“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 is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does. Please keep Dale, Mary, Annie and the entire Rossington family in your prayers and respect the family’s privacy at this difficult time.”
Rossington cheated death more than once, Rolling Stone reported. 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.
“It was a devastating thing,” he told Rolling Stone in 2006. “You can’t just talk about it real casual and not have feelings about it.”
In later years, Rossington underwent quintuple bypass surgery in 2003, suffered a heart attack in 2015, and had numerous subsequent heart surgeries, most recently leaving Lynyrd Skynyrd in July 2021 to recover from another procedure. At recent shows, Rossington would perform portions of the concert and sometimes sat out full gigs.
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Nice pic. Thanks for posting. I will play my black Gibson Les Paul today in honor of Gary.
RIP
“Where were you in ‘69..Smok’n dope and drink’n wine Just an outlaw...”
Jeff Healey died in 2008.
Different Jeff Healey?
Hubby and I, now in our 60s, still will put on some Lynyrd Skynyrd occasionally and blare it throughout the house. It’s good music to get you up and moving and get a household project complete. And the memories the music brings back!
Knew what you meant. That’s good! LOL
Skynyard was wildly popular in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and we throw snowballs at Santa. THAT tells you how influential they were. RIP.
Nope - he had long-term issues...he wasn’t a 24 year old athlete.
Wow! What a story. I wish I could have been there.
RIP. One of my favorite bands.
Don’t forge Charlie Daniels and The Marshall Tucker band.
Yep thanks. We just heard.
Very sad.
The band is now complete in Heaven.
Molly Hatchet was the best of the Southern Bands.
I’m not so sure about that, but I do love them too.
“Molly Hatchet was the best of the Southern Bands.”
That’s a bold statement bro. Wow!
They were the “Florida” Southern band.
A Florida band don’t do songs about Alabama.
I’ve been to Alabama, people ain’t a whole lot to see;
Skynyrd says it’s a real sweet home but it ain’t nothing to me.
About 20 years ago, I was in a steakhouse in Muscle Shoals, AL, the town where Sweet Home Alabama was recorded.
I made the nearly fatal mistake of asking IF they had sweet tea. My friend looked at me in disgust as you literally heard forks dropping at a nearby table.
“They’s a Yankee in Heah!”
I was at a concert in Miami the nite Freebird crashed, and Neil Young was on stage when they announced it. I believe it was Neil Young’s birthday that nite. The crowd kept crying for Neil to sing “Southern Man” and he refused to sing the song. At the end he played an amazing version of “Sweet Home Alabama” in tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd, and everyone sang along with him til the end.
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