Along with Collins, Rossington also provided the guitar work for "Simple Man". Rossington played lead guitar on " Tuesday's Gone" and the slide guitar for " Free Bird". He named it "Berniece" in honor of his mother, whom he was extremely close to after the death of his father. Rossington's instrument of choice was a 1959 Gibson Les Paul which he had purchased from a woman whose boyfriend had left her and left behind his guitar. Career Rossington (center) with Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1977 Rossington (right) performing alongside Rickey Medlocke in 2011 It is not known if the elder Van Zant's efforts were successful, but Rossington later dropped out of high school to focus on Lynyrd Skynyrd full-time. Lacy Van Zant further explained that, like his own sons, they were working men and long hair was part of the job. Lacy Van Zant explained to the assistant principal that Rossington's father, who died shortly after Rossington was born, had died in the Army and that Rossington's mother needed the money Rossington made playing in his band. Lee High School to plead Rossington's case to school administrators after the fatherless Rossington was suspended for having long hair. Īccording to a New York Times article, Lacy Van Zant, patriarch of the Van Zant family, once went to West Jacksonville's Robert E. He credited Van Zant, who was three years his senior, with teaching him and his bandmates how to drive a car, as well as introducing them to "all that stuff you learn when you're 14, 15, 16". Rossington grew up in a single-parent household and said that early in their relationship, Van Zant became something of a father figure to him. Naming themselves The Noble Five, with the additions of guitarist Allen Collins and bassist Larry Junstrom, they later changed the name of the band to The One Percent before eventually settling on the name Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1969. Liking what they heard, they immediately decided to form a band. They set up their equipment in the carport of Burns' parents' house and played The Rolling Stones' then-current hit " Time Is on My Side". He became acquainted with Ronnie Van Zant and Bob Burns while playing on rival Jacksonville baseball teams and the trio decided to jam together one afternoon after Burns was injured by a ball hit by Van Zant. It was Rossington's love of baseball that indirectly led to the formation of Lynyrd Skynyrd in the summer of 1964. Rossington recalled that he was a "good ball player" but upon hearing the Rolling Stones in his early teens he became interested in music and ultimately gave up on his baseball aspirations. His mother recalled that he had a strong childhood interest in baseball and aspired as a child to one day play for the New York Yankees. Rossington was born in Jacksonville, Florida. Rossington was also a founding member of the Rossington Collins Band, along with former bandmate Allen Collins. He was the longest-surviving founding member of the band. He is best known as a founding member of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, in which he played lead and rhythm guitar. The tragic Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash is the subject of a documentary titled Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash, which premiered in February of 2020.Gary Robert Rossington (Decem– March 5, 2023) was an American guitarist. The group have continued on in various lineups ever since. The tragic crash and its aftermath derailed Lynyrd Skynyrd's career for a decade, but the band reunited in 1987, with Ronnie Van Zant's younger brother Johnny joining Gary Rossington, Billy Powell, Leon Wilkeson, Pyle and guitarist Ed King - who had left the band two years before the crash - as their new lead singer. The original cover for Street Survivors depicted the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd engulfed in flames, and MCA subsequently recalled it out of respect for those who had died and their families. Drummer Artimus Pyle and two crew members managed to crawl from the wreckage of the aircraft and hiked through the woods until they waved down a local farmer, who sent for help. The other band members and members of the road crew suffered devastating injuries. Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zant died on impact, along with guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray. The pilots tried to land on a small airstrip, but the bottom of the airplane clipped some trees, and the aircraft went down in a remote wooded area. Lynyrd Skynyrd were flying from Greenville, S.C., to Baton Rouge, La., on tour when their plane reportedly ran out of fuel toward the end of the flight.
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