Gary Rossington

Gary Rossington, the last surviving original member and original guitarist for the rock band Lynard Skynard, passed away at the age of 71 yesterday.

RIP Gary Rossington, God Bless the Lynyrd Gary was not only a friend, but a collaborator that wrote songs with me and played guitar with me in studio recordings and onstage so many times. Photo via Lynard Skynard Official Facebook Page

The last original member of the Lynyrd Skynyrd rock band, Gary Rossington, passed away yesterday at the age of 71.

Like the members of Lynryd Skynyrd, Gary Rossington's legacy lives on in his music and his band. Gary was not only a friend, but a collaborator that wrote songs with me and played guitar with me in studio recordings and onstage so many times. In 1973, the Southern rock band released their debut album (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd), which included the hit 'Freebird.'

Gary Rossington, founding member of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, has died at the age of 71 just four months before the band was set to embark on a new ...

"Oh I am so heartbroken. RIP Gary. Tributes have been pouring in from fans, with one person commenting: "So sad to hear this...I remember seeing them in 1979 in Alabama...Sending Prayers to the Family." "Please keep Dale, Mary, Annie and the entire Rossington family in your prayers and respect the family’s privacy at this difficult time." His bandmates announced the sad news on social media as they paid tribute to their "brother" and "family member". "Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does.

Gary Rossington, one of the founders of the legendary American rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, has passed away at the age of 71.

The guitarist was the last surviving original member of the group, who are best known for their songs 'Free Bird' and 'Sweet Home Alabama'. He was the last surviving original member of the band. Gary Rossington, one of the founders of the legendary rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, has passed away at the age of 71.

The last remaining band member of Lynyrd Skynyrd Gary Rossington, has died aged 71, it was confirmed over the weekend.

While a cause of death has yet to be officially announced, Gary Rossington had also been suffering with a series of heart problems, while a positive Covid test also forced the band to cancel several shows in 2021. Lynyrd Skynyrd subsequently broke up in 1977, following the tragic deaths of guitarist Steve Gaines, lead singer Ronnie Van Zandt, and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines in the infamous plane crash of 1977, with Rossington also on board. “Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does”, the statement also added.

Rossington was the last surviving original founding member of the Southern rock band, known for its anthemic "Free Bird," among many other hit songs.

"I don't think of it as tragedy — I think of it as life," he said upon the group's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2006. A collection of country-tinged blues-rock and Southern soul, the album included now-classics like "Tuesday's Gone," "Simple Man" and "Gimme Three Steps," but it was the closing track, the nearly 10-minute "Free Bird," that became the group's calling card, due in no small part to Rossington's evocative slide playing on his Gibson SG. "It was a devastating thing," he told Rolling Stone in 2006. According to Rolling Stone, it was during a fateful Little League game, Ronnie Van Zant hit a line drive into the shoulder blades of opposing player Bob Burns and met his future bandmates. 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." "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.

Charlie Starr, of Southern rock band Blackberry Smoke remembers Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington, who died at 71.

That’s another hook to the song. It’s another verse to the song. Think about Ronnie saying, “Play it pretty for Atlanta” [during “Free Bird” at the Fox Theatre in 1976]. The song is not “Free Bird” without that part. We asked Starr to explain Lynyrd Skynyrd’s impact, dissect Rossington’s approach to his instrument, and unravel the mysteries of the guitarist’s signature slide intro to [“Free Bird.”](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/lynyrd-skynyrd-first-show-back-free-bird-1180286/) “I said, ‘What does he want me to play?’ She said, ‘He said to play the blues.’ And I got that because that’s where Gary came from,” Starr says, calling from Zurich, Switzerland, where Blackberry Smoke are about to perform. When you listen to “Free Bird,” his playing sounds like a bird singing to you. “After they walked down the aisle, Gary yelled over to me, ‘OK, play the blues now!’ and so I did. Listen to the solo for “Don’t Ask Me No Questions,” too. “I’ll carry that with me forever.” They were all so different, starting with And those songs are like Beatles and Stones songs — they’re accessible.

The last surviving original member of the classic Southern rock group, he played the soaring slide guitar solo on “Free Bird” and co-wrote “Sweet Home ...

Mr. In 1976 Mr. Rossington and Mr. In a 1993 interview with The Associated Press, Mr. In 1987, the 10th anniversary of the crash, Mr. Van Zant; Mr. Van Zant and Mr. “We came in and did Yardbirds and Stones. “We do it now as an instrumental,” Mr. The band, playing countless bar dates around Florida and eventually beyond, evolved into a seven-piece with three guitars — Mr. The band’s breakthrough came in 1973, when the musician and producer Al Kooper caught a show in Atlanta, liked what he heard and signed the group to his Sounds of the South label. [a portrait of the band](https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/lynyrd-skynyrd) written for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted the group in 2006, another teenager, Ronnie Van Zant, was playing in a baseball game when he hit a foul ball that struck a spectator, Mr.

Artimus Pyle, who drummed for Lynyrd Skynyrd for the bulk of the Seventies, pays tribute to Gary Rossington: 'Fly high, our free bird brother.'

We liked a lot of the same things — listening to Jeff Beck at his house on his gigantic stereo, out on the water in his boat, riding horses together.” “As it turns out, being the last living member of Lynyrd Skynyrd is not all it’s cracked up to be,” Pyle says. He’s also the last survivor of the band’s “Everyone will remember Gary as a road dog, trouper, songwriter, and one of the greatest guitar players that ever lived. Perhaps best known for his slide-guitar work on Skynyrd’s immortal “Free Bird,” Rossington was the last founding member of the Southern-rock titans. And I will cherish these texts for the rest of my life,” Pyle, who replaced original drummer Bob Burns in 1975, tells Rolling Stone over the phone from his home in rural North Carolina.