Lynyrd Skynyrd: From Tragedy to Triumph
Southern Rock Legends Led by Gary Rossington and Johnny Van Zant Win
Apr 24, 2009
Lynyrd Skynyrd survivors spent ten years in mourning after a plane crash that tragically took the lives of four members of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd and entourage, including founding member and vocalist, Ronnie Van Zant.
The band reformed in 1987 for a tenth anniversary memorial tour, and it was such a success that they have stayed together until the present day.
This article provides a summary of the years 1978 to 1988.
The Rossington-Collins Band
Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarists, Gary Rossington and Allen Collins, formed the Rossington-Collins band after the dismantling of Skynyrd following the devastating plane crash.
The band released two albums: Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere in 1980 and This is the Way in 1981.
The band renewed interest in Lynyrd Skynyrd, and helped the Gold and Platinum greatest hits double album that had been released following the plance crash go double platinum.
The Lynyrd Skynyrd Reunion
Rossington and Collins split up and worked on solo projects in the mid 1980s. Terrible fortune seemed to follow Collins, and he lost a girlfriend in a car crash that also paralysed him from the chest down. His wife had died while suffering a miscarriage in 1980.
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s record label, MCA, released the Legends compilation album in 1987 to commemorate the band on the tenth anniversary of the fateful plane crash.
Lynyrd Skynyrd reformed in September of the year to mark the decade anniversary. Gary Rossington was joined by Skynyrd members Billy Powell, Artemis Pyle, Leon Wilkeson, Ed King; Ronnie Van Zant’s younger brother Johnny on vocals; and Randall Hall who'd been in the Allen Collins Band took Collins's place.
Rossington’s wife, Dale Krantz Rossington, who had been the vocalist in the Rossington-Collins Band shared backing vocal duties with Carol Bristow.
Allen Collins would appear on stage in a wheelchair to warn about the dangers of drink and drugs before the song, That Smell, which had been written by Ronnie Van Zant to warn of the perils they faced after the band had become increasingly dependent on booze and cocaine following their early success.
Success for the Reformed Lynyrd Skynyrd
The tour was a resounding success, and the band decided to stay together. MCA released a double live album from the tour: Southern by the Grace of God.
The decision to continue brought legal action by the wives of Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines, the two band members that had died in the plane crash a decade previously. The wives now receive their husbands’ share of the touring revenue.
New tours and albums have continued in the twenty years since the reunion, and Lynyrd Skynyrd are touring again in 2009; forty years after the original band formed. Guitarist, Gary Rossington, is the only surviving member from that first line-up.
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