Last founding member of Lynyrd Skynyrd dead at 71
posted on Facebook.The band announced his death Sunday and no cause was revealed.“Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does,” the band wrote, asking for fans to keep Rossington’s family in their prayers.He was the last surviving original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd and leaves behind his wife, Dale Krantz, and two daughters.Rossington was born on Dec. 4, 1951, in Jacksonville, Fla., and was raised by a single mother after his father died after he was born.In 1964, Rossington met drummer Bob Burns and bassist Larry Junstorm, and the trio hit it off over their love of music and baseball.That same year, during a Little League baseball game, Ronnie Van Zant hit a line drive into the shoulder of Burns, and the initial spark of the world-renowned band was born, Rolling Stone reported.Rossington, Burns, Van Zant, and guitarist Allen Collins gathered at Burns’ Jacksonville home that afternoon to jam the Rolling Stones’ “Time Is on My Side.”The boys would go on to adopt the band name Lynrd Skynyrd — as a nod at the name of a coach at Rossington’s high school with a similar name and after a character in the 1963 novelty hit “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp).”In 1973, the band released their debut album “Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd,” which included the now iconic songs “Simple Man,” “Tuesday’s Gone,” and their most notable song “Free Bird,”The rocker, whose remarkable guitar slide helped make the band’s song “Free Bird” an all-time favorite for fans, had cheated death on more than one occasion, Rolling Stone reported.In 1976, Rossington survived a devastating car wreck where he drove his Ford Torino into a tree.