Gary Rossington — the founding guitarist of American Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd — has died. The group's last surviving original member since 2019, Rossington's passing was announced by the band Sunday (March 5), though a cause of death was not revealed. He was 71.
"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," Lynyrd Skynyrd announced on Facebook. "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, whose guitar playing can be heard on all 14 of the band's studio releases, had suffered heart-related health issues in recent years. In October 2015, two Lynyrd Skynyrd concerts were cancelled upon the guitarist suffering a heart attack. A 2018 article from The Tampa Bay Times reported Rossington previously required quintuple bypass surgery, while in 2021, the artist underwent a subsequent emergency procedure.
Born in Jacksonville, FL, Rossington formed Lynyrd Skynyrd with vocalist Ronnie Van Zant and drummer Bob Burns. On the band's 1973 debut, (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd), Rossington's six-string skill can be heard in the lead guitar lines of classics like "Tuesday's Gone," "Gimme Three Steps" and "Simple Man," while he also contributed the memorable slide guitar to "Free Bird."
Rossington was also instrumental in the creation of Lynyrd Skynyrd's celebrated hit (and Neil Young diss track) "Sweet Home Alabama," appearing on 1974 follow-up Second Helping. Speaking with Garden & Gun in 2015, the guitarist recalled, "I had this little riff. It's the little picking part and I kept playing it over and over when we were waiting on everyone to arrive for rehearsal. Ronnie and I were sitting there, and he kept saying, 'play that again.' Then Ronnie wrote the lyrics and [guitarist Ed King] and I wrote the music."
In 1976, Rossington and fellow Skynyrd guitarist Allen Collins both survived separate car accidents in their hometown of Jacksonville, leading the band to draw on their members' brush with death to write "That Smell." Three days after the song was released as part of 1977's LP Street Survivors, Rossington would survive a plane crash that claimed the lives of frontman Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, and three others.
Upon Lynyrd Skynyrd's disbandment after the tragedy, Rossington and Collins would form the Rossington Collins Band, releasing a pair of albums for MCA: 1980's Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere and 1981's This Is the Way. The dissolution of this project would lead the guitarist to form the Rossington Band, with which he would deliver a trio of studio LPs: 1986's Returned to the Scene of the Crime, 1988's Love Your Man and 2016's Take It on Faith.
Rossington had performed with Lynyrd Skynyrd since the group's 1987 return from hiatus, through to their 2018 farewell tour.
Speaking to Billboard magazine in 2016, Rossington said of continuing to play through health and personal issues, "It's just in my blood, y'know? I'm just an old guitar player, and we've spent our whole lives and the 10,000 hours of working to understand how to play and do it. So I think once you've got something going for yourself, you should keep it up and keep your craft going. When you retire, what's next? I like to fish, but how much of that can you do, right?"
"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," Lynyrd Skynyrd announced on Facebook. "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, whose guitar playing can be heard on all 14 of the band's studio releases, had suffered heart-related health issues in recent years. In October 2015, two Lynyrd Skynyrd concerts were cancelled upon the guitarist suffering a heart attack. A 2018 article from The Tampa Bay Times reported Rossington previously required quintuple bypass surgery, while in 2021, the artist underwent a subsequent emergency procedure.
Born in Jacksonville, FL, Rossington formed Lynyrd Skynyrd with vocalist Ronnie Van Zant and drummer Bob Burns. On the band's 1973 debut, (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd), Rossington's six-string skill can be heard in the lead guitar lines of classics like "Tuesday's Gone," "Gimme Three Steps" and "Simple Man," while he also contributed the memorable slide guitar to "Free Bird."
Rossington was also instrumental in the creation of Lynyrd Skynyrd's celebrated hit (and Neil Young diss track) "Sweet Home Alabama," appearing on 1974 follow-up Second Helping. Speaking with Garden & Gun in 2015, the guitarist recalled, "I had this little riff. It's the little picking part and I kept playing it over and over when we were waiting on everyone to arrive for rehearsal. Ronnie and I were sitting there, and he kept saying, 'play that again.' Then Ronnie wrote the lyrics and [guitarist Ed King] and I wrote the music."
In 1976, Rossington and fellow Skynyrd guitarist Allen Collins both survived separate car accidents in their hometown of Jacksonville, leading the band to draw on their members' brush with death to write "That Smell." Three days after the song was released as part of 1977's LP Street Survivors, Rossington would survive a plane crash that claimed the lives of frontman Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, and three others.
Upon Lynyrd Skynyrd's disbandment after the tragedy, Rossington and Collins would form the Rossington Collins Band, releasing a pair of albums for MCA: 1980's Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere and 1981's This Is the Way. The dissolution of this project would lead the guitarist to form the Rossington Band, with which he would deliver a trio of studio LPs: 1986's Returned to the Scene of the Crime, 1988's Love Your Man and 2016's Take It on Faith.
Rossington had performed with Lynyrd Skynyrd since the group's 1987 return from hiatus, through to their 2018 farewell tour.
Speaking to Billboard magazine in 2016, Rossington said of continuing to play through health and personal issues, "It's just in my blood, y'know? I'm just an old guitar player, and we've spent our whole lives and the 10,000 hours of working to understand how to play and do it. So I think once you've got something going for yourself, you should keep it up and keep your craft going. When you retire, what's next? I like to fish, but how much of that can you do, right?"
