Gary Robert Rossington was a well-known musician and songwriter in the United States of America. In the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, he played both lead and rhythm guitar and was the band’s last remaining founding member. The Rossington Collins Band was founded by Rossington and his ex-bandmate Allen Collins. In recent years, the musician has had his fair share of health issues, including the need for several heart operations.
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Gary Rossington Net Worth
The American musician Gary Rossington was worth $40 million at the time of his death. Gary Robert Rossington was born in December 1951 in Jacksonville, Florida. He first gained prominence as a member of the groundbreaking rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. In 1964, he and his friends formed the group The Noble Five. In the beginning, the band went by the name The One Perfect, but eventually settled on Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Since their debut in 1991, this band has released 14 studio albums and amassed over 20 million in album sales. “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Free Bird” are two of their most well-known songs. Tragically, three members of the band were killed in a plane crash in 1977, at the height of their success.
Rossington managed to pull through, but he was severely injured, breaking both arms, both legs, both ankles, both wrists, and his pelvis. The painkillers he needed to treat his injuries eventually turned him into a drug addict. In 1980, Gary co-founded the Rossington-Collins Band, which eventually released two albums. Presently, Rossington is the only original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd still actively performing with the group. Edward King, the band’s original guitarist, is still among the living.
But King does not tour with the band in its current form. Gary Rossington has two daughters with his wife, Dale Krantz-Rossington. They also put out two albums with a side project called the Rossington Band. It was in 2006 that Rossington, along with the rest of Lynyrd Skynyrd, was recognised for his contributions to the music industry by being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Gary Rossington Passed Away At The Age Of 71
Last original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gary Rassington, passed away on Sunday (March 5), at the age of 71, nearly four months before the band was set to embark on their next tour.
The guitarist had been ill for years, and especially since the middle of the 2010s, when heart ailments occasionally put him and the band on hiatus. No official cause of death was given.
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“It is with deepest sympathy and sadness that we have to advise, that we lost our brother, friend, family member, songwriter and guitarist, Gary Rossington today,” the band Lynyrd Skynyrd said in a statement. “Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does. Please keep Dale, Mary and Annie and the entire Rossington family in your prayers and respect the family’s privacy at this time.”
In an interview with Billboard published in 2016, Rossington discussed the decision he and his wife Dale Krantz-Rossington (who is also a member of Skynyrd) had made to continue performing despite his health problems. You can see the official Instagram post by Eddie Trunk below in which he shares the post of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
“The reason for this is just in my blood, y’know?,” he said. “I’m just an old guitar player, and we’ve spent our whole loves 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? So I want to keep doing what I do now.”
Rossington was the only remaining member of the band Me, You, and Him, which had originally formed in 1964 in Jacksonville, Florida, with bassist Larry Junstrom and drummer Bob Burns. Ronnie Van Zant, a player on an opposing baseball team, jammed with the winning team after one of their games, performing “Time Is on My Side” by the Rolling Stones.
Rossington dropped out of school because of Leonard Skinner, a tough physical education teacher at Robert E. Lee High School, and Skynyrd got its name from him. Skinner was especially harsh on boys with long hair.
Al Kooper, the founder of Blood, Sweat, and Tears, discovered Skynyrd after they had played the local and regional scene, and he signed them to his Sounds of the South label.
The band’s first album (Pronounced Len-‘nerd ‘Skin-‘nerd), came out on August 13, 1973. It included the long song “Free Bird,” which would become the band’s most famous song. The group continued to gain fans through hard touring and songs like “Sweet Home Alabama,” which was its answer to Neil Young’s “Southern Man.” I Ain’t the One, Things Goin’ On, Don’t Ask Me No Questions, Gimme Back My Bullets, and What’s Your Name are just a few of the other classic Lynyrd Skynyrd songs that Rossington co-wrote.
Three Members Of Skynyrd Died In A Plane Crash In 1977
According to Fox News, on October 20, 1977, while en route from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a Convair CV-240 crashed near Gillsburg, Mississippi, taking with it three members of Skynyrd (Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and his older sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, and both pilots. Rossington and others were badly hurt, so the group had to stop right away. You can check the tweet below in which it is said that three members of the band died in a plane crash.
On this day in history (1977), three members of the popular southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd (Free Bird) died in a plane crash in Mississippi. Among the total six people killed was lead singer Ronnie Van Zant. Twenty others survived the crash. pic.twitter.com/UO0K50FPOs
— Ring Ring Marketing (@RingMarketing) October 20, 2018
“After something like that, we couldn’t imagine going on,” he said. “We were brothers, and when you lose your brothers, you can’t just keep going.” The Rossington Collins Band, which he started with guitarist Allen Rossington, was together for almost four years and made two albums before breaking up in 1982. Skynyrd, on the other hand, got back together in 1987, supposedly to mark the 10th anniversary of the plane crash. Since then, the band has released nine more studio albums and had a number of lineup changes.
In addition to Collins (who passed away in 1977), Ed King (who passed away in 2018), Hughie Thomasson (who passed away in 2007), Rickey Medlocke, and others, Rossington was the only member of Skynyrd to appear on all of its albums.
Rossington stated that the loss of bandmates Leon Wilkeson, a longtime bassist and Billy Powell, a keyboardist inspired him to keep going despite his health problems.
Krantz-Rossington stated in 2016 that she and her husband had decided that it was best for him to keep making music. “He told me, ‘I would much rather go out kicking than sit here in my chair,’ and that was the last time we talked about it,” she said. “After that, we just prayed for God’s grace and kept going until we dropped.”
Summing up, it is evident that we have covered the topic of Gary Rassington Net Worth. After a long battle with heart ailments, the band’s lone surviving member passed away. Please check out talkxbox.com for additional information.