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Rock Art Rock
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Lynyrd Skynyrd Survive
Next to the original Allman Brothers Band, the most important icon of the Southern rock movement is Lynyrd Skynyrd. In a matter of four years the band went from being a working-class, Florida-based bar band, to being one of the most popular acts to fill arenas in both America and Europe. Then, it all came crashing down—literally.
Through a simple twist of fate, the band that helped define what we now call classic rock would be fighting for its survival in a Mississippi swamp, the victims of a tragic plane crash. Here is the story behind the fall of the “free bird.”
Formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1966 (they took their name from a strict high school gym instructor, named Leonard Skinner), the band endured seven years of bar gigs and desperation before landing a record deal—they were signed by Who manager Bill Curbishley. At the same time the band landed a deal with MCA Records. Its debut album, Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, was an instant smash that yielded the anthemic FM classic “Free Bird.”
From there it was onward and upward as the band released five subsequent multi-platinum albums and a string of hits that included, “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Saturday Night Special”, “What’s Your Name?”, and “You Got That Right.” In October of 1977, the band, which included Van Zandt, Rossington, Wilkeson, drummer Artimus Pyle, keyboardist Billy Powell, and guitarists Allan Collins and Steven Gaines, was at the zenith of its career.
In the early stages of a world tour for the album Street Survivors, (with a record cover depicting the band walking out of a flame engulfed demolition scene), Lynyrd Skynyrd had released a new single called “That Smell” just three days earlier. In it, Van Zandt sang, “Oooo, that smell. Can’t you smell that smell? / The smell of death surrounds you.” On October 20th at 5:30pm, the band, backing musicians, road crew and two pilots, took off in a rented 1947 Convair 240 plane, in what was expected to be a 2 1/2 hour flight from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They had five hours worth of fuel on board.
Guitarist Allan Collins had seen flames coming out of the right engine only two days earlier and had reluctantly boarded the plane. The band’s management had agreed with him that the plane was not good enough for such a major rock act and had made arrangements to replace it with a Lear jet two days later in Dallas.
On board, the band and their entourage joked, drank Jack Daniels, smoked cigarettes and played poker. Ronnie Van Zandt was asleep in the aisle at the back of the plane. It was 6:42pm and everyone was enjoying a gorgeous sunset over Magnolia, Mississippi. Then suddenly, one of the pilots announced that they were out of fuel and would be forced to make an emergency landing in the next available field. Pyle and Powell, both licensed pilots themselves, instructed the others on how to prepare for the crash. For 10-minutes, everyone prayed. At 6:52pm, the plane crashed through a heavily treed forest, 100 yards shy of a large cornfield.
“It was like the sound of a billion baseball bats beating the side of the plane as it went down through the trees,” said bassist Leon Wilkeson, in a 1996 interview I conducted with the band when he finally agreed to speak about the crash. Wilkeson, who suffered a broken jaw, crushed chest, and extensive internal bleeding, was pronounced dead three different times following the crash.
When it finally came to a halt, the plane was totally demolished and in several pieces. Van Zandt, Gaines, his sister, Cassie (backing vocalist for the band), road manager Dean Kirkpatrick, and the two pilots were dead. Most of the others were critically hurt. Pyle, however, was able to go for help.
“He managed to get out of the plane and go for help before anyone else,” says Wilkeson. “He even got fired upon by a frightened farmer who was watching this Charles Manson look-a-like walking through his field, holding his chest and falling down every 30 seconds.” The official cause of the crash was a bad magneto in the right engine (which caused it to consume excessive fuel) and pilot error, since the fuel gauges were never checked during the flight.
“You can sit around and point your fingers, but you don’t come up with any solutions,” says Wilkeson. “So, I’ve just accepted it as fate.” It took years for the band to recover physically and emotionally.
In the early ’80s, some of the members regrouped for a short time in the Rossington-Collins Band and the Artimus Pyle Band, but both were short-lived ventures when Collins was paralyzed in a car crash and Pyle was critically hurt in a motorcycle accident. He died of a respiratory ailment a few years later.
In the early 1990s, the surviving members regrouped as Lynyrd Skynyrd, with Ronnie’s younger brother, Johnny Van Zandt on lead vocals. At the end of the decade, Wilkeson faced another crisis when he was mysteriously attacked while sleeping on the band’s tour bus. He nearly bled to death but was rushed to the hospital and survived. The crime has never been solved, and sadly Wilkeson died in 2001 from liver failure.
“The name of the game is survival,” said Wilkeson near the end of our interview. “And, like the album says, we’re all street survivors… street and sky.”
Watch: “Free Bird” [at youtube.com]
» Last Week: Crosby, Stills and Nash See the Changes
25 Comments
what a sad, tragic story.
my brother saw their last concert.
i remember it haunted him knowing he saw their last show with ronnie. that band was perhaps the greatest constant of my 70’s youth in s. fla. ! i just wish i had the chance to see them with ronnie!
I was also at the “last” show…
Greenville SC
Yep, a great band with Ronnie. I saw them once and they were great. Reminds me a bit of Little Feat though after Lowell George. Just never the same. Little Feat seems to fare better as they’re all great musicians. I saw Lynryd Skynrd on Austin City Limits and it just depressed me. They were playing the same exact solos from 30 years ago and just seemed to be keeping an idea alive. In contrast I saw the Allman Brothers Band last night and they blew the room off the place, playing as well or better than any version of the band ever has.
you rock lyard skynard
Fly on Freebird
Ronnie’s last name is spelled without a “d”. VanZant, not VanZandt. Just a note.
Don’t remember when but it must have been ‘78 or ‘79, don’t even remember who was on stage but the crash survivors played at a Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam in Nashville, and brought the house down with a powerful instrumental version of Free Bird. I’ll never forget it.
EEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeee!
Hay s.fla. dude. you coulda seen em in hollywood on the 15th of october 1977, 5 days before the plane crash. i did.
Yeah! Lyard! My favorite band! Woo hoo!
i was only 2 years old when ronnie was taken. i feel it was the worst thing to ever happen to music. i woship him and the original band. i only wish i could have seen him play live.
Lynyrd Skynyrd, died on October 20, 1977 with the death of Van Zant. They should have laid the name to rest with the man. And went on as something else, cause all they have now is a “country band”.
I saw the band in march 1974..too bad i was too high to remember any of it..
I don’t think Artimus Pyle is dead. Wasn’t he inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame not long ago?
DEAN WAS THE ROAD MANAGER BUT HIS NAME WAS KILPATRICK NOT KIRKPATRICK
Lynyrd Skynyrd, they’re one of the greatest rock’n'roll band and they are far better than little feat and allman brothers musicallly they are more diverse even more talented still after 30 years of listening to their songs they are still fresh and it’s like a finest wine gettin better with old unlike the allman borhters and little feat who their music are in one dimension
It’s a good article, but they need to work on fact-checking, as there were several mistakes in the article.
1)Ronnie’s last name is spelled Van Zant, not Van Zandt.
2)Collins’ first name is spelled Allen, not Allan.
3)Lynyrd Skynyrd formed in 1964, not 1966.
4)The road manager killed in the plane crash was named Dean Kilpatrick, not Kirkpatrick.
5)It mentions both Collins and Pyle getting injured, later saying “He” died. Artimus was the last one mentioned, implying he was the one who died, while it was Allen who died.
6) It says Skynyrd reformed in the early 90’s, but Skynyrd reformed in 1987. They may be getting that “early 90’s” thing from the fact that the reunited Skynyrd released their first album in 1991.
7) It says Leon’s tour bus incident took place in the late 1990’s, but I’m pretty sure it was in the early 90’s.
8) It claims Leon died of liver failure. Although he suffered from chronic liver disease, it was not deemed as his cause of death.
9) It says Cassie died when the plane came to a halt, which is not the case. Cassie survived the initial impact but eventually bled to death.
Ironically, it was country fiddler and “Devil went down to Georgia” intimate, Charlie Daniels, who best explains the Southern Rock era best, as he explained on a television special about the explosion of music that came out of the south during the 60’s and 70’s. Daniels states that without Skynyrd there would not be a Southern Rock category. He states that the Allmans bristle to this day when coined a “Southern Rock” band, when, in fact, they considered themselves a blues and jszz ensemble. They’ve never understood being enveloped into a category with rock bands, and, rightfully so. Daniels then extrapolates on the Marshall Tucker band whose Carolina roots were grounded in country and jazz, both, of whom, experimented greatly into all facets of music including gospel, Rntry and exploration music or what is commonly known as jam music. Daniels explains in great detail that there was really only one band that played straight forward, no-holds-bard rock’n'roll: Lynyrd Skynyrd. Even Skynyrd wasn’t sure what Southern Rock meant when told they were the leaders of said movement. Of course, followers such as Molly Hatchet and countless others including, one could argue, Drive By-Truckers continued the Southern Rock tradition. Skynyrd, whose members were clueless as to the infamy of flying rebel flags and singing about the “Southland” ignored the critics accusations associated with southern stereotypes and played their version of what they understood as rock’n'roll. In other words, they played what they felt and be damned with the rest. For that, they will always be one of the greats.
YOU GUYS HAVE TO LEARN TO SPELL.
IT;S ‘LYNYRD SKYNYRD’
Always loved Skynyrd but never enjoyed them the same after the crash. Kinda like NASCAR after Dale.
It’s over boys. Gary is the only one left,time to put it to bed. I was there in 72 at Funnochio’s and Richards,two infamous bars in Atlanta.With all due respect to the others, Ronnie was the Heart and Soul of the band. They should have hung it up after the crash. No way I’d ever be able to sit through a collection of hits by what is, or was, the best cover group ever.
Not many Rs leave a legacy as they have, for sure no one out there now will, I love them boys and the world is a sadder place now.
Somehow left out Rock and Rollers, where that R stands alone.
It’s so shit sad that a verygood
Rockroup like them that
made good music is playged by
tragdety.RIP LYNYRD SKYNYRD.
seen skynyrd at ga jam summer of 1973 allen gary ed influnced my life ;i still cant read music but everyone i know says mouse;them boys are truly in your soul i keep blowing down the road;PS rickey m stay connected