Gary Rossington dead at 71: Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist who was the last surviving original member
Gary Rossington dead at 71: Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist, who was the last surviving original member of the star-struck band Sweet Home Alabama, has died.
Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist and songwriter Gary Rossington has died at the age of 71. the band said in a Facebook post..
“It is with our deepest condolences and sadness that we have to report that today we lost our brother, friend, family member, songwriter and guitarist, Gary Rossington,” the group said.
The statement continued: ‘Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and plays nice, as he always does. Keep Dale, Mary, Annie and the entire Rossington family in your prayers and please respect the family’s privacy at this difficult time.”
It was not immediately clear what the musician’s cause of death was.
Gary Rossington initially met Ronnie Van Zant and Bob Burns when they were teenagers playing baseball in Jacksonville, Florida, according to a biography on the band’s website.
“An impromptu afternoon jam session in Burns’ parents’ garage inspired the trio to form a band,” the biography continues. Before long, guitarist Allen Collins and bassist Larry Junstrom were added to the mix, and the band began entertaining Jacksonville crowds, first as My Backyard, then The Noble Five, then The One Percent, before finally come to the name of Lynyrd Skynyrd. in 1969.’
Rossington in 2019 became the last surviving original member of the group when Junstrom died at the age of 70 in October 2019.
RIP: Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist and songwriter Gary Rossington has died at the age of 71, the band said in a Facebook post. Photographed in April 2019 in Indio, California