Lynyrd Skynyrd has introduced that they are going to proceed as a band following the demise of Gary Rossington on March 5. The guitarist was the final remaining founding member of the legendary Southern rock group’s authentic lineup.
A brand new press launch notes that the band was initially “not sure” about transferring ahead after Rossington’s demise. “After a lot dialogue with the band, the households of Ronnie Van Zant and Allen Collins, and Dale Rossington, the collective has reached unified help,” the assertion reads. “[They] really feel that persevering with to carry out reside, and preserving the music alive, is in the most effective curiosity of the followers and everybody concerned.”
“Gary was all the time the primary to say how ‘Skynyrd’s music is larger than me or anyone particular person,’” the guitarist’s widow, Dale Rossington, mentioned.
“Gary made it recognized at each likelihood to specific how timeless the music was, and it was all the time his aim to maintain the music alive for his brothers as a result of that was all the time their dream. He spent his complete life making an attempt to hold on that dream for Ronnie, Allen, Steve and all of the others through the years. Whereas he was not in a position to bodily be onstage with the present lineup during the last couple years, he supported them in each manner. His dream will proceed due to [singer] Johnny [Van Zant], [guitarist] Rickey [Medlocke] and the remainder of our bandmates to proceed to hold his legacy and music on for future generations.”
Johnny Van Zant added that “Gary was not solely my brother, bandmate and pal. I feel he beloved me as a lot as I beloved him. We might do something for one another. We laughed, we fell, we cried and made up, and shared the stage for the final 36 years. Gary, together with my brother Ronnie and Allen, began this band and left us all a legacy of music that has stood the take a look at of time, and crossed three generations of followers.”
Along with Van Zant and Medlocke, the present Lynyrd Skynyrd lineup additionally contains guitarist Mark “Sparky” Matejka, drummer Michael Cartellone, bassist Keith Christopher, keyboardist Peter Keys, and backing singers Carol Chase and Stacy Michelle.
Guitarist Damon Johnson (Alice Cooper, Skinny Lizzy), has been taking part in with the group since 2021 when Rossington underwent emergency coronary heart surgical procedure. It has not been introduced whether or not or not he can be a part of the revised lineup.
Lynyrd Skynyrd carried out their first live performance with out Rossington on March 12. They referred to as it “one of many hardest exhibits of our lives.” After a run of upcoming headlining dates, they’re going to begin the Sharp Dressed Easy Man tour with ZZ High on July 21.
Van Zant is now Lynyrd Skynyrd’s longest-tenured member. He stepped in to fill the sneakers of his late brother in 1987. Medlocke presents one other hyperlink to the group’s early days: Despite the fact that he’s been with the band since 1996, he was additionally a part of the second iteration of its lineup, taking part in and recording with Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1971 and 1972 earlier than the discharge of their debut album.
In keeping with authorized paperwork, the unique surviving members took a “blood oath” to not use the band title following the tragic aircraft crash in 1977 that claimed the lives of three bandmates. In 2009, Larkin Collins, father of authentic Skynyrd guitarist Collins (who died in 1990), instructed The Florida-Instances Union that the band’s ‘80s reunion settlement stipulated that there needed to be no less than three authentic members for the band title for use. When bassist Leon Wilkeson died in 2001, they lowered the required quantity to 2.
On the time of keyboardist Billy Powell’s demise in 2009, Larkin Collins indicated that they might have the ability to make preparations for Skynyrd to hold on with simply Rossington. However he was guarded about any prospects past that. “With out an authentic band member, I’ve obtained my doubts,” he mentioned. “We’re not going to show it unfastened to no one who would spoil the title, let it get on the market and haven’t any respect for the title.”
Rossington weathered a number of well being points main as much as coronary heart surgical procedure in 2021, together with a 2015 coronary heart assault. He revealed in 2018 that docs had been urging him to cease touring for 15 years; the guitarist mentioned he selected to depend on a “battery of nitroglycerin tablets to remain alive.”
“I’ve had coronary heart assaults onstage lots,” he instructed the Tampa Bay Instances in 2018. His rising emotions of mortality had been an element within the group’s choice to start the Final of the Road Survivors Farewell Tour that very same yr.
“That is why I used to be calling it a farewell tour – I do not know if I will be right here,” Rossington defined. “I do not wish to simply say, ‘Properly, we’re by no means going to finish,’ as a result of I do not wish to die after which it finish that manner – which is a heavy factor to speak about, however I’ve to.”
Despite the fact that the band’s preliminary plans to name it quits modified, Johnny Van Zant instructed The Florida-Instances Union in 2022 that they might in all probability be “hanging it up” inside a yr. “We’re going to retire from touring,” he mentioned.
