The lone remaining original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, guitarist Gary Rossington, passed away Sunday according to his surviving bandmates.
“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,” read a post from the band on social media.
“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 had been in ill health in recent years. In 2021 he had emergency heart surgery, which came six years after he suffered a heart attack. He had suffered numerous heart complications over the years.
Rossington previously told the Tampa Bay Times that his doctors had advised him to stop touring. “I’ve had heart attacks on stage,” he said. “That’s why I was calling it a farewell tour. I don’t know if I’ll be here [much longer]. I don’t want to just say, ‘Well, we’re never going to end,’ because I don’t want to die and then it end that way — which is a heavy thing to talk about, but I have to.”
Rossington survived the 1977 plane crash that killed singer Ronnie Van Zane and guitarist Steve Gaines. The band reunited with Ronnie’s Brother, Johnny, in 1987 and toured ever since.
“It’s a tribute band right now, and everybody knows it’s not the original,” Rossington told Rolling Stone last year. “Everybody who comes to see us is told that during the show, and probably knows before they even get there. But people still come to hear it live.”
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