On numerous occasions he proclaimed that he would never reach his 30th birthday. Many in the band’s circle believe Van Zant had a premonition of his fate. While their bodies recovered, they’d never again be reunited with the voice that made songs like “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama” perennial anthems of Southern rock. The 20 survivors endured shattered bones, torn flesh, lengthy hospitalizations and grueling rehabilitations. Less than three hours later the twin-engine would plummet from the sky and into the darkened swamps of Gillsburg, Mississippi, claiming the lives of Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray Jr. We’ve got a gig to do,'” remembers Rossington.įorty years later, his words resonate like a dare to the gods. “Ronnie said, ‘Hey, if the Lord wants you to die on this plane, when it’s your time, it’s your time. “He said, ‘I’m not gonna get on it because it’s not right.'” But the band’s frontman remained almost eerily calm. ![]() “He didn’t want to get on that plane,” Gary Rossington told the Orlando Sentinel in 1988. Guitarist Allen Collins was equally apprehensive. Cassie Gaines, a member of the backing vocal trio known as the Honkettes and sister of guitarist Steve Gaines, was so petrified that she nearly squeezed in the band’s cramped equipment truck until she was reluctantly persuaded to board the aircraft. “Our wives, everyone were afraid for us to get on this thing, but we didn’t know any better,” keyboardist Billy Powell said on a 1997 episode of VH1’s Behind the Music. Still, one final hop on the Convair felt like one too many for most in their entourage. Surely they needed something better than a bucket of bolts to shuttle them there?Īfter making the 600-mile trip from Greenville to Baton Rouge, where they were due to play the following night at Louisiana State University, Lynyrd Skynyrd planned to acquire a Learjet, the air chariot of choice for the Seventies rock elite. The ambitious trek, their largest to date, would see the band achieve its dream of playing New York’s Madison Square Garden. Their latest album, Street Survivors, had gone gold upon its release three days earlier, and the first five dates of the accompanying tour had been met with rapturous crowds throughout their native Southland. The scary incident convinced the group that they needed to upgrade their vehicle to something befitting their status as one of the biggest acts in music. The 10-foot flames seen shooting out of the right engine two days earlier had done little to inspire anyone’s confidence. “We were flying in a plane that looked like it belonged to the Clampett family,” drummer Artimus Pyle later said. And they had good reason to be: Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s rickety Convair 240, pushing 30 years old, was obviously past its prime. With a catalog of over 60 albums, sales beyond 30 million worldwide and their beloved classic American rock anthem “Sweet Home Alabama” having over two million downloaded ringtones, Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Lynyrd Skynyrd remains a cultural icon that appeals to all generations.Ronnie Van Zant’s bandmates were anxious as they prepared to board their leased plane at Greenville, South Carolina’s Downtown Airport on the afternoon of October 20th, 1977. ![]() ![]() We wanted to do the guys who aren’t with us any more proud, and keep the name proud, too.” There’s nothing like getting out there playing a great show with Skynyrd and seeing people love this music.”Īdds Rossington, “We’re still standing, still keeping the music going. We have to make a living, sure, but it’s about the legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and what it stands for, what the fans are all about. “It’s just that we love the music, it’s bigger than the money, it’s not even about that any more. 2014 marks the 8th year for their annual Simple Man Cruise, a four day voyage filled with the best music in Southern Rock including an outdoor beach show featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd for the first time in the cruise’s history.Īnd so Skynyrd stands, “still unbroken.” “People may say, ‘they need the money,’ well I don’t think any of us need the money,” Van Zant says. The rock and roll powerhouse continually tours, this summer heading out on their second run with Bad Company. Since then, the band tragically lost Allen Collins, Billy Powell, Leon Wilkeson and Hughie Thomasson, yet Lynyrd Skynyrd rocks on with original member Gary Rossington joined by Johnny Van Zant, Rickey Medlocke, Mark “Sparky” Matejka, Michael Cartellone, Johnny Colt, Peter Keys, Dale Krantz Rossington and Carol Chase. The legacy began some 41 years ago in Jacksonville, Florida, and halted for a decade by the 1977 plane crash that killed three band members, including Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines.
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