|
|
|
|
|
Lynyrd SkynyrdLynyrd Skynyrd is a Southern rock band that gained prominence in the 1970s. The group was founded by Ronnie Van Zant, who took the band's name from Leonard Skinner, the assistant principal at Lee High School, their senior high school in Jacksonville, Florida. Mr. Skinner required them to get their hair cut. Rather than do that they transferred to a nearby school, Fletcher High. When the band gained some fame, Leonard Skinner would attend their performances. Skynyrd became known for their triple guitar lineup, as seen in their hit Freebird, a song first dedicated to Duane Allman, the lead guitarist of the Allman Brothers Band who died in a motorcycle accident. This song was not written as a tribute to Duane, rather it was dedicated to him at concerts. "Free Bird" (from their debut album "Pronounced") has become the subject of a generic rock concert cliche, the joke being that you can't go to a concert without hearing somebody shouting a request for that song. The song was the second on the radio's most requested list in 1976. The song features an amazing 4 minute long guitar solo. In 1974 they released the album Second Helping, featuring the hit single "Sweet Home Alabama" (Skynyrd's most popular song). Another well-known song is "Gimme Three Steps". While it is fairly well known and obvious from lyrics that "Sweet Home Alabama" was something of a rebuttal to the Neil Young song "Southern Man", the belief that Young and the members of Skynyrd were rivals is incorrect. Young and Skynyrd had actually considered collaborating on several occasions and, after the breakup of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Young performed "Sweet Home Alabama" on stage on rare occasions. There was a "feud", but it was of a strictly amicable nature. In their formative years, lead singer Ronnie Van Zant was the driving force behind the band, also co-writing many of the group's hits, which also included "Gimme Three Steps", "Gimme Back My Bullets", "What's Your Name?", and "Tuesday's Gone", the theme song from the movie Happy Gilmore. But their legend is grounded in a 1977 tragic plane crash. On October 20, 1977, a plane crash killed lead singer and song writer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick. Also killed were pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray. The group broke up after the air crash. They reunited in the late 1980s and 1990s. A substantially different version of the band (with new lead singer Johnny Van Zant, brother of Ronnie) continues to tour and record as of 2004. Lineup - Ronnie Van Zant - lead vocals (killed in 1977; replaced by Johnny Van Zant in 1987)
- Gary Rossington - Gibson Les Paul guitar, named "Berniece"
- Allen Collins - Gibson Firebird guitar, 1958 Gibson Explorer (died in 1990)
- Ed King - Fender Stratocaster guitar (replaced by Steve Gaines in 1976, who was himself killed in 1977, and in turn replaced in 1987 by Randall Hall)
- Billy Powell - keyboards
- Leon Wilkeson - bass (died in 2001)
- Bob Burns - drums (replaced by Artimus Pyle in 1975)
- Cassie Gaines - background vocals (killed in 1977)
Discography - "Shade Tree 101/102"
- 1973 Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd
- 1973 Smokes
- 1974 Second Helping
- 1975 Nuthin' Fancy
- 1976 Gimme Back My Bullets
- 1976 One More from the Road
- 1977 Street Survivors
- 1988 Southern By the Grace of God: Lynyrd Skynyrd... (live)
- 1991 Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991
- 1993 The Last Rebel
- 1994 Endangered Species
- 1996 Freebird: The Movie
- 1996 Southern Knights
- 1997 Twenty
- 1998 Lyve (live)
- 1999 Edge of Forever
- 2000 Christmas Time Again
- 2001 One More From the Road (live)
- 2001 Street Survivors
- 2001 Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd
- 2002 Christmas
- 2003 Vicious Cycle
External links
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|