![]() Shedding light on the incident, 'Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash' is a musical survival drama directed and written by Jared Cohn along with writer Brian Perera. 30 years later, the original "flames" photo was restored for the deluxe CD version.īack in January 2018, Lynyrd Skynyrd announced its farewell tour and if reports are to be believed, the band members are currently working on their fifteenth album. Since the cover sleeve for Street Survivors had a photograph of the band amid flames, with Steve Gaines nearly obscured by fire, MCA Records withdrew the original cover and replaced it with the album's back photo against a plain black background. Not just that, the single 'What's Your Name' was on the 13th spot. While they disbanded after the tragedy, the band reunited with Ronnie's brother, Johnny Van Zant, as its lead vocalist to perform an instrumental version of 'Free Bird' at Charlie Daniels' Volunteer Jam V in January 1979.įollowing the crash, Street Survivors became the band's second platinum album and reached No. Many others, including Collins, Rossington, Wilkeson, Powell, Pyle, and Hawkins, tour manager Ron Eckerman, and several road crew members suffered serious injuries. ![]() As the sound rung in his ear repeatedly, he was knocked out and woke up to find the plane's door on top of him. Guitarist Gary Rossington revealed he heard sounds of hundreds of baseball bats hitting the plane's fuselage as it began striking trees. Drummer Artimus Pyle reminisced the horrific incident and was told by a terrified pilot Walter McCreary to go back and strap himself in. Several passersby had noticed vocalist Zant with a mild hangover before the flight as he was lying on the floor with a pillow to take rest. Sadly, Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines, along with backup singer Cassie Gaines (Steve's older sister), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray died in the accident. However, the plane crashed in a forest five miles away from Gillsburg, Mississippi. While the band members were in the aircraft, the plane ran out of fuel and attempted an emergency landing while trying to navigate to McComb Airport. Quite surprisingly, it was barely three days after the release of Street Survivors, the Southern rock band's fifth studio album that was released on October 17, 1977. The band boarded a chartered Convair CV-240 bound for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to head to a performance at LSU the following night. Tragedy struck in late October 1977, after a performance at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina. The debut album of the same name came in 1973, which included a lineup with bassist Leon Wilkeson, keyboardist Billy Powell and guitarist Ed King. Isn't it ironic that the soulful tunes and lyrics of 'Free Bird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd, the band that popularized the Southern rock genre in the 1970s, reminds you of the instant when tragedy struck in 1977 and split the members into two halves? Formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band was named My Backyard at first with members, including lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarists Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, bass guitarist Larry Junstrom and drummer Bob Burns.Īt first, the band changed many names and toured for five years before finally settling down on the name Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1969. Upon meeting drummer Bob Burns and bassist Larry Junstrom, Rossington and his new friends formed a band, which they tried to juggle amid their love of baseball.Cause there's too many places I've got to see." 4, 1951, in Jacksonville, Florida, and raised by his mother after his father died. At recent shows, Rossington would perform portions of the concert and sometimes sat out full gigs. 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. “You can’t just talk about it real casual and not have feelings about it.” ![]() “It was a devastating thing,” he told Rolling Stone in 2006. 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. Rossington cheated death more than once, Rolling Stone reported. ![]()
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