Gary Rossington, the sole surviving founding member of the American rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, passed away at the age of 71.
He co-wrote the 1974 smash song Sweet Home Alabama and was one of the band’s founding members. He appears on all of their albums.
He also survived the 1977 plane disaster that claimed the lives of several members of his band.
Rossington had been performing up until February despite having heart issues in recent years.
“It is with our utmost grief and sadness that we have to advise, that we lost our brother, friend, family member, songwriter, and guitarist, Gary Rossington, today,” the band’s statement on their Facebook page said.
Gary is currently in heaven with his Skynyrd brothers and family and acting kind, as he usually does.
Rossington underwent heart surgery in 2021, according to a band post at the time, but no specific cause of death was disclosed.
Rossington was born in 1951 in Florida, creating the original iteration of Lynyrd Skynyrd – called Me, You, and Him – in 1964 with drummer Bob Burns and bassist Larry Junstrom.
During that summer, after a game degenerated into a jam session, they added singer Ronnie Van Zant, who was a member of a rival baseball team.
Their high school gym teacher, who had a reputation for disciplining kids with long hair, inspired them to choose the moniker Lynyrd Skynyrd.