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Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and his back-up singer sister Cassie all died in the crash with everybody else picking up manageable injuries. Three days after the release of the band’s sixth studio album “Street Survivors” on October 17, 1977, the band’s privately chartered plane crashed outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. The band maintained its devoted following through well-documented touring and the release of the double live album “One More from the Road”. The album was there first to break the Top 10 and performed much better than its successor “Gimme Back My Bullets” released in 1976. “Nuthin’ Fancy saw Burns and King leave the band and replaced by Artimus Pyle. The album has since been certified multi-platinum and was followed up by 1975’s Nuthin’ Fancy”.
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Lynyrd Skynyrd's sophomore album “Second Helping” was released 1974 featuring the hit single “Sweet Home Alabama”. It wasn’t long before the band developed a popular following, with the success of “Free Bird” and opening for the Who on their “Quadrophenia” tour. The single “Free Bird” from the album earned Lynyrd Skynyrd their first taste of national exposure, notorious for their three guitar attack. The band’s debut album arrived in 1973 with members Van Zant on lead vocals, Rossington on lead guitar and rhythm guitar, Collins also on guitar, Ed King on lead guitar, Billy Powell on keyboard, Bob Burns on drums and Leon Wilkeson on bass.
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Two years later the band thanks to headlining a series of local concerts and opening for several national acts, Lynyrd Skynyrd became a popular Jacksonville act, they honed their hard-rock, southern blues style and began to make their studio recordings.Īs a result of a successful performance at an Atlanta club Funocchio, which caught to attention of producer Al Kooper, the band singed to MCA in 1972. The earliest incarnation of Lynyrd Skynyrd, formed by friends Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins and Gary Rossington, performed under the moniker My Backyard, before switching to One Percent in 1968.
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