The last original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gary Rossington, has passed away due to unreleased causes of death at the age of 71 years old. The band confirmed his death via an official statement that reads, “It is with our deepest sympathy and sadness that we have to advise, that we lost our brother, friend, family member, songwriter and guitarist, Gary Rossington, today, Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does. Please keep Dale, Mary, Annie and the entire Rossington family in your prayers and respect the family’s privacy at this difficult time.”
Rossington originally joined his friends Ronnie Van Zant and Allen Collins in 1964 in order to form My Backyard in their hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, with the trio being joined by Bob Burns and Larry Junstrom helped start Lynyrd Skynyrd toward multi-platinum success. The band really took off after they opened for the Who in 1974.
While speaking of opening for the Who to Music Radar Rossington previously said, “Man, that was so great, That was the first time we got exposed to a lot of people up North and in the West. Up till then, we were just playing for folks in little teen dens and smaller shows around the South. We hadn’t played a lot of big gigs at all. When we got on the Who tour, it was unbelievable. There were anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 people at every show. That blew our minds.”
Rossington previously suffered health issues such as a heart attack in October of 2015. While his more recent treatment was to repair stents inserted from prior surgeries, including the quintuple bypass he had in 2003. He also was hospitalized with an abdominal infection in 2015.
Lynyrd Skynyrd released nine post ’70s studio projects while Rossington was in charge, with 2009’s God & Guns and 2012’s Last of a Dyin’ Breed. Rossington also released in 2016, Take It on Faith, an album that included working along with his wife Dale.
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