Lynyrd Skynyrd co-founder dies
Gary Rossington, a co-founder and last surviving original member of Lynyrd Skynyrdwhohelpedwritethe classic answer song “Sweet Home Alabama” and played unforgettable slide guitar on the rock anthem “Free Bird,” died Sunday at age 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.”
Rossington cheated death more than once.
He survived a car accident in 1976 in which he drove his Ford Torino into a tree, inspiring the band’s song “That Smell.” A year later, he survived the plane crash that killed singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines, with multiple broken bones and internal injuries.
Rossington was born Dec. 4, 1951, in Jacksonville, Florida, and raised by his mother after his father died. Upon meeting drummer Bob Burns and bassist Larry Junstrom, Rossington and his new friends formed a band. During a Little League game, Ronnie Van Zant hit a line drive into the shoulder blades of spectator Bob Burns and met his future bandmates.
Adopting Lynyrd Skynyrd as the group’s name the band released their debut album in 1973.
The complicated legacy of “Sweet home alabama ,” written by Ros sing ton, Van Zant and Ed King, none of whom were from Alabama, followed the band for decades.
“A lot of people believed in segregation and all that. We didn’t. We put the ‘boo, boo, boo’ there saying, ‘We don’t like wallace ,’” ros sing ton said.
Still the band regularly used the Confederate flag in their live shows for decades.
Rossington in 2012 told CNN that the band would stop using the flag in shows because of its association with hate groups, but then walked back the comment to say they would continue to use the Confederate flag, alongside the state flag of Alabama and the American flag.