RIP - Gary Rossington

alantig

Zombie Four, DFZ
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The last of the founding members of Lynyrd Skynyrd has died. RIP, Gary.

Gary Rossington, the last remaining founding member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, has died at 71. The band announced his death on their Facebook page today (March 5, 2023) at 7:35 p.m. ET. Though they didn’t reveal the cause of death, the guitarist had a long history of heart issues that had caused him to take extended leave of absences from the Southern rock band. Rossington had triumphantly returned to the stage on October 23, 2021 in Atlanta, Ga., four months after he had undergone emergency heart surgery.

In their brief March 5 statement, the band wrote, “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. Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does. Please keep Dale, Mary, Annie and the entire Rossington family in your prayers and respect the family’s privacy at this difficult time.
 
Oh, no!
When I was young, my friend down the street had 3 much older brothers with the most amazing collection of LP’s. The rule was, we could use their sound system and listen to anything we wanted as long as we took care of everything and put whatever we used back.
Sabbath, Zeppelin, Kiss, Allmans, and AC/DC were among my favorites. The one band that I would always pick out first was Lynyrd Skynyrd. At the time , being so young, I had no idea how many guitarists were in the band or how the lineup had changed over the years. There was just something about them that hit me.
Of course over the years, my music taste changed. As faster, heavier, darker, and more aggressive music took over, I never put Skynyrd to the side. If you rode with me, you and your ears were in for a rollercoaster ride. Ride the Lighting followed by Nuthin’ Fancy. Reign In Blood right into Street Survivors. And if I put on One More From The Road, you bet your ass we were listening to the WHOLE thing.
This one really hurts.
This guitar I bought for the simple reason it was a replica of my hero’s. It wasn’t about the aging, it wasn’t about the limited edition, it was the simple fact that it was the closest I would ever get to the real Bernice Les Paul and Gary himself.
Thank you Gary for your influence.

 
Free bird has a bad rap, and I spent many many days and night air guitaring. Memorial day weekend 1984 WCKG in Chicago counted down the top 500 classic rock songs of all time and we listened all weekend, wondering the#1. Free bird in its 15 minutes of glory version. Outstanding!

RIP Gary, and the rest of them, you didn't change and now fly like the free birds you were.
 
The last of the founding members of Lynyrd Skynyrd has died. RIP, Gary.

Gary Rossington, the last remaining founding member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, has died at 71. The band announced his death on their Facebook page today (March 5, 2023) at 7:35 p.m. ET. Though they didn’t reveal the cause of death, the guitarist had a long history of heart issues that had caused him to take extended leave of absences from the Southern rock band. Rossington had triumphantly returned to the stage on October 23, 2021 in Atlanta, Ga., four months after he had undergone emergency heart surgery.

In their brief March 5 statement, the band wrote, “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. Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does. Please keep Dale, Mary, Annie and the entire Rossington family in your prayers and respect the family’s privacy at this difficult time.
Rest in Peace, Gary. Hope you are jamming with the other Skynyrd boys.
 
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Lynyrd Skynyrd (especially Gary) still has a huge influence on me and my guitar playing since before I even picked up a guitar. My uncle is a huge music buff and used to play me and my brother all the top acts of the time. Bowie, T-Rex, Black Sanbath and of course Skynyrd, we'd sit there for hours fascinated by the wall out sound coming from the speakers(especoally the sounds of a slide guitar).

One day he turned up unexpected and had a package each for me and my brother, we thought they were early birthday presents- (our birthdays are Nov 13th & 14th, twins born either side of midnight) inside each package were two copies each of the "Stree Survivors" album. He told us that we could only open and play one copy each but we must NEVER even open the cellophane on the other copies. We promised that we wouldn't (neither of us ever did) the date was Oct 21st 1977, the day after the plane crash.

Me and my wife were lucky to meet the band backstage here in the UK in 2003 & 2009 tours. When I told him the above story, he laughed and asked if I still played, I said I did and he the presented with one his glass slides.

He was genuinely one of the nicest people I've ever met.

Rest in peace Gary

Your music will live forever.
 
Free bird has a bad rap, and I spent many many days and night air guitaring. Memorial day weekend 1984 WCKG in Chicago counted down the top 500 classic rock songs of all time and we listened all weekend, wondering the#1. Free bird in its 15 minutes of glory version. Outstanding!

RIP Gary, and the rest of them, you didn't change and now fly like the free birds you were.

The live version outro solos are some of the finest guitar pickin' in rock and roll.
 
Full-Tilt-With-Lynyrd-Skynyrd-09-17-2011.jpg


Got to briefly meet him and the rest of Skynyrd in 2011, when the band I was in opened for them. They all seemed nice and happy to meet us. RIP Mr. Rossington.
 
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