![]() Judy Van Zant Jenness and Teresa Gaines Rapp – the widows of Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines – sued Skynyrd for violating an agreement they struck after the plane accident not to exploit the band's name for profit, and as the years went on, most of the original members either left or were forced out for various reasons.īassist Leon Wilkeson died in 2001, and keyboardist Billy Powell died in 2009. ![]() Perhaps inevitably, the band reunited in 1987, with Gary Rossington, Billy Powell, Leon Wilkeson, Artimus Pyle and guitarist Ed King – who had left the band two years before the crash – joined by Ronnie Van Zant's younger brother Johnny as their new lead singer.īut despite a successful reunion, tragedy and drama continued to plague the group guitarist Allen Collins had become paralyzed after a drunk driving accident in 1986 that killed his girlfriend, and he died in 1990. The next decade would see the musicians pursuing a number of projects, including the Rossington-Collins Band, Vision, and the Allen Collins Band – none of which came anywhere close to the success of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Out of respect for the band and their family members, MCA recalled the album's original cover, which depicted the band members engulfed in flames.ĭevastated by the loss of their singer and the injuries sustained by the survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd disbanded after the accident, leaving the survivors to try to make their own way with varying degrees of success and failure. Drummer Artimus Pyle and two crew members crawled from the wreckage and hiked through swampy woods until they finally flagged down a local farmer, who sent for help.įollowing the crash and the press attention that came along with it, Street Survivors became Lynyrd Skynyrd's second platinum album. Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray were killed instantly, while the other band members and road crew suffered terrible injuries. ![]() The pilots attempted to land on a small air strip, but the bottom of the plane clipped some trees, and the aircraft went down in a remote stand of forest. Lynyrd Skynyrd were traveling from Greenville, S.C., to Baton Rouge, La., when their plane apparently ran out of fuel toward the end of the flight. Even if the crash never happened, those '70s records would obviously still be worth all the praise they get today.but somehow I have a feeling that if it hadn't happened, they'd be just another unfairly-overlooked/underrated '70s rock band.Rock legend has it that Aerosmith had looked into renting the same plane earlier in the year, but passed on it due to concerns over both the safety of the plane, and the readiness of its crew. Since there were a lot of country hits and acts in the early '90s that clearly had a Skynyrd/southern-rock inspired sound, I can see them sliding into the role easily.Īll in all though, gruesome as it may sound, I think death "helped" the band in terms of remembrance and recognition. 38 Special-type direction in the '80s.and who knows, in the '90s and beyond they may have gone on to be staples of country radio and been mostly thought of as a country act. I also agree with the poster who said they'd have probably gone off in a. ![]() I have a feeling they'd probably still be around, but would have been long since reduced to the "state fairs and casinos" circuit that the current version of the band plays, and probably wouldn't be remembered as fondly, fairly or unfairly.
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