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Gary Rossington (1951-2023) - The Last Original Skynyrd


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Guitarist Gary Rossington, the last surviving original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, passed away.  
 

Rossington, vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Allen Collins, bassist Larry Junstrom and drummer Bob Burns formed the band “My Backyard” in 1964, when they were mere teenagers.  Rossington was 13!
 

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I heard this earlier tonight and it made me feel so sad. Rossington was the one that played the slide guitar on Free Bird, which was actually a huge song before yelling the title became kind of a joke.  I was a big Lynyrd Skynyrd fan from the first album and saw them twice (well, 1.5 times) before the plane crash.  (never take your younger sister to a concert if she drank with her friends beforehand . . .I ended up holding her hair in the bathroom at the porcelain throne through a lot of that second concert . . . she still owes me . . . . :wink:)  

 

Rossington basically broke like everything in the plane crash where Ronnie Van Zant and 5 others were killed- pelvis, ankles, both legs, both arms.  He said he could never remember anything about it and considered that a blessing. He dealt with a LOT of cardiac problems through life- a quintuple bypass, a heart attack, and most recently, valve surgery.  I sent him a card, I remember, after the bypass surgery. 

 

Lynyrd Skynyrd did not have roadies for a long time when they started, because of Ronnie Van Zant's dad, Lacy.  He was a long haul truck driver and wanted his son and the band to have a skill in case music didn't work out, so he taught them the proper way to load and transport their gear. They learned how to do it so well they were reluctant, for a long time, to turn it over to others to load.  Gary also got in trouble in high school for refusing to cut his hair. Lacy went in to talk to the assistant principal and explained that Gary's father had died in the Army, and the money the band was bringing in helped Gary's mom.  Lacy convinced the administrator that the long hair was part of a necessary look for a rock band.

 

RIP Gary. :rose:  Your name and music brought back so many memories.  Somewhere in the universe, my best friend Cindy and I are driving in the sunshine in her car and blasting "Sweet Home Alabama." 

She ended up in Florida, near Jacksonville. :smile: We both still love your music. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by blueschica
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I was a big fan of all the southern rock bands back when that was a big thing, and Skynyrd was at the top of that heap. Rossington was such a good player. It's sad how so many of those southern rock musicians are gone now, way before their time.

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20 minutes ago, blueschica said:

Gary also got in trouble in high school for refusing to cut his hair. Lacy went in to talk to the assistant principal and explained that Gary's father had died in the Army, and the money the band was bringing in helped Gary's mom.  Lacy convinced the administrator that the long hair was part of a necessary look for a rock band.

 

 

Gary recalled, "All the teachers thought we had short hair, but then at gym you had to take a shower - it was mandatory." Remembering the results of those showers, Gary related, "Leonard Skinner would come through the showers while you were doing it, and if he caught you with your hair down touching your ears or something he'd kick you out or send you to the principal. After about 20 or 30 times of doing that to me, and kicking me out for two weeks of suspension, I just quit school. He kicked me out and I said,`____ you, I'm gone!'

 

Hence the band's name - Lynyrd Skynyrd....:biggrin:

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4 minutes ago, 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 said:

I was a big fan of all the southern rock bands back when that was a big thing, and Skynyrd was at the top of that heap. 

 

Growing up in Kentucky, I got to hear Skynyrd so much on the radio (and from my buddies' garage band) that the band is now on my Retired List.  Can't listen to any of it anymore. 

 

I've retired many classic rock bands over the years, and I have revisited some of them, but I still can't listen to Free Bird....:sarcasm:    

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Last of the Skynyrd 'old guard'.

Very sad hear about the loss of another great guitarist.

RIP Gary.

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One of the odd things about living in the middle of England as a kid was hearing bands like Skynyrd singing about their homeland with pride and love that I never felt. I saw the reformed band in 1991, and of course it was nothing like the real thing but I`m glad I did. I still listen to pre-crash Skynyrd quite often and Gary was of course a great part of that amazing line-up. He wasn`t exactly lucky to survive the plane crash - he came out of it pretty badly - but somehow the man Ronnie dedicated "That Smell" to survived into his 70s.  RIP Gary. :rose:

 

Obviously this isn`t classic Skynyrd but JVZ wrote it about Gary.

 

 

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RIP.  

 

I'm a fan of their first three albums.  My college roommate, sophomore year, played the sh1t out of Second Helping so I got tired of the band around 1975.

 

 

 

 

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Normally I try not to overshare on the Internet, but...this guy deserves this accolade.....

 

A friend of mine worked on a tour of his and from what I was told, the guys in the band always knew that their music was not everyone's cup of tea, but they viewed touring as a way to keep people gainfully employed and to bring joy to fans of any stripe, be they fairweather friend-types or longtime lovers of the music. 

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10 hours ago, Principled Man said:

 

Growing up in Kentucky, I got to hear Skynyrd so much on the radio (and from my buddies' garage band) that the band is now on my Retired List.  Can't listen to any of it anymore. 

 

I've retired many classic rock bands over the years, and I have revisited some of them, but I still can't listen to Free Bird....:sarcasm:    

 

 

I get that, I am the same way with the Eagles! I heard them so much growing up. I'm not like the Dude in The Big Lebowski, but close! :biggrin:

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