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Famous Like Me > Composer > R > Gary Rossington

Profile of Gary Rossington on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Gary Rossington  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 4th December 1951
   
Place of Birth: Jacksonville, Florida, USA
   
Profession: Composer
 
 
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Gary Rossington

Gary Rossington (born 4th December, 1951 in Jacksonville, Florida) is a founding member and guitarist of Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Rossington formed the band as a teenager (only just, at age 13) with friends Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, Larry Junstrom and Bob Burns in the summer of 1964. According to Rossington, in his interview in "Freebird: The Movie", the original members of the band were himself, Van Zant and Bob Burns. They had met at the end of a Little League baseball game (Rossington loved baseball, and originally planned to be a professional baseball player) where VanZant had hit a line drive that went so far it hit spectating Bob Burns and knocked him unconscious. Rushing over to see if Burns was injured, VanZant met Rossington who was with Burns (who was not hurt) and the three started to talk and then went to Burns's home and started to play music together. After this point, additional personnel were needed, and so Larry Junstrom was brought in on bass guitar, whilst Allen Collins (creator of Skynyrd's rock anthem Free Bird and crafter of its famous and epic solo) would join a short time after this.

Music critics have made much of the band's intricate musical chemistry. All members had their own particular interests and tastes in music, and the synopsis of these at band rehersals in the band's aptly-named "Hell House" (a cabin the band rented in the middle of a swamp which had no air conditioning, making rehersals uncomfortable in the full heat of Floridian summers) led to Skynyrd's compositions heard on their albums. Within this mix, Rossington can be distinguished clearly. He had (and still has) a particular talent for solos based upon the minor/blues melodic and harmonic scales. An example of this can be heard clearly on Skynyrd's cover of JJ Cale's "Call me the Breeze", found on track eight of their second album "Second Helping".

A vital part of this mix of sound revealed itself through the instruments which the band members used. Collins prefered to use Gibson Firebird and eventually Gibson Explorer guitars, although he cut his teeth using Gibson Les Paul guitars and Gibson SGs. In a paradoxical twist, it was Rosington, ultimately, who would use Les Pauls in performance, and their distinctive tone brings out his playing on record and the stage. At the same time, Rossington retained the use of Gibson SGs for his slide part which ran from the start to the beginning of the solo by Collins on Freebird. The Gibson Guitar Corporation recently produced a batch of Gary Rossington SG and Les Paul "Signature Models", limited to a number of 250 each, desgined to be near perfect copies of Rossington's 1961 SG model, and also his 1959 Les Paul which he named "Bernice" in appreciation of his mother.

After discovery by Al Kooper (see below) whilst playing in the Atlanta club "Funnochio's" in 1973, Lynyrd Skynyrd received a five record deal plus a requirement for "Best of...." or Live album, and national exposure starting in 1974 with the release of their second album and hit single "Sweet Home Alabama", which Rossington inspired when experimenting with the D Major arpeggio on day at rehersal. The success of this song, particularly as it was a spirited and yet wholly well-meaning and humorous retort to Neil Young's "Alabama" and "Southern Man" compositions, increased sales of Lynyrd Skynyrd's first album entitled "Pronounced Lynyrd Skynyrd" (1973). There, new fans found Freebird. The first album contained other songs written by Rossington, including the introspective, and retrospectivly celebratory "Simple Man", track four on the re-issue CD. On track two, "Tuesday's Gone", a Collins composition, the lead guitar is played by Rossington. Track one, "I Ain't the One", with the distinctive addition at the outset of a cymbal clash by Burns recorded and then added to the final mix played backwards (a catchy touch by producer Al Kooper of Sound of the SOuth/MCA Records) is another Rossington composition, and was played in most of Skynyrd's shows. The band would play gutiarist Ed King's classic "Workin' for MCA", and then play "I Ain't the One" simultaneously.

Of note in the first album, Collins and Rossington are found to be playing the lead in each other's songs. This exemplified the relationship between the two guitarists. They were close friends, and practiced together regularly, teaching each other whatever tricks they had picked up or songs they had learned. As such, they were used to playing as a duo, and thought the same way musically, save that Collin's excellent, natural sense of rhythm meant that he often employed himself as a rhythm player, coming out for fills and solos intermitently before his Freebird solo, whilst Rossington was more orientated towards picking indivdual notes over Collins's chord playing. "Workin' for MCA" shows also Rossington and Collins playing dual leads (where they played the same part togther at the same time), and this also is found in the bridging melody (effectively a solo melody, but not a solo instrumental break as both Collins and Rossington played it) on "Simple Man".

The relentless touring schedule of Lynyrd Skynyrd took its toll on all members of the band, and it is little suprise that by the time of the third album Bob Burns had left Skynyrd due to considerable stress. Whilst Artimus Pyle replaced Burns on drums ably, creation of the third album effectively had to occur inside the studio, with only "Saturday Night Special" already being recorded (it was used in the film "The Longest Yard") and Collins's "On the Hunt" being ready for recording. Thus, whilst Rossington inspired "Am I Losin'" on Skynyrd's third album "Nuthin' Fancy" (1975), a well-composed piece, and crafted the riff to the title song of the same name of Skynyrd's fourth album "Gimme Back My Bullets" (1976) amongst other songs on that album, the third and fourth albums were less comemrcially successful than the first two because the band had not had the time to polish the material to the standard of the first two albums. Some songs on the third album were considered lacking or unfinished by bandmembers, and so singer Ronnie VanZant named the album "Nuthin' Fancy" because, in his mind, the material was just this.

The band ended in 1977 when Skynyrd's chartered tour plane, a Convair 240 model, crashed close to McComb, Mississippi at 6.42pm on the 20th October, 1977. The tragedy killed band members Ronnie Van Zant, the inspirational leader, singer and songwriter and driving force behind Skynyrd's success, Steve Gaines, the new (and excellent) guitarist brought in the fill Ed King's spot (after he had left the band on the 27th May, 1975 in Pittsburgh due to the conflict in the band) and his sister Cassie Gaines, who was one of Skynyrd's trio of female backing singers. Rossington received multiple broken bones, and limbs including both legs, arms, wrists, feet and a broken pelvis as well as broken ribs. Others were severely injured also, particularly drummer Artimus Pyle (who admirably took on the role of drummer in Skynyrd after Burns left and who ran across the swamp with two others from the crash, with his ribs exposed due to injury, and reported the crash and ultimately got help, no doubt saving many of the lives of those onboard). Collins, pianist Billy Powell and bassist Leon Wilkeson were also injured badly. Both pilots, Walter Gray and William McCreary were killed, as was the band's personnal assistant Dean Kilpatrick, who, on a much-needed lighter note, enjoyed tours as he was mistaken for Allen Collins in public, and frequently found himself making many friends! The crash was particularly unfortunate in that it took not only much life, but also a band which clearly was evolving into something even greater at an exponential rate, a fact clearly audible on Skynyrd's fifth ("One more from the road") and sixth ("Street Survivors") albums.

By 1980, after recovering from the crash, Collins and Rossington enlisted the services of Dale Kranz (singer, of .38 Special band fame) and also of Powell and Wilkeson to create the Rossington Collins band. The group made their debut in 1980 with their first album "Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere". The album sold more than a million copies and the band toured to enthusiastic crowds with many shows being sold out. However the band’s 1981 follow-up effort ("This is the Way") was less well-received by fans, despite critical acclamation irnoically.

By May 1982, Gary and Dale had married. Both retired to a log house just outside the National Elk Refuge in the Grand Teton Mountains to relax and raise a family, whilst Allen Collins went on to form the Allen Collins Band.

In 1986, Gary and Dale founded a new band (the "Rossington Band") and created an album. "Returned to the Scene Of The Crime" was guitar-based rock, but the different band chemistry meant that the sound was much different to the blend of rock which Skynyrd had worked within, and created over a decade beforehand. Dale Rossington took on the role of lead vocals, and Gary Rossington that of guitarist.

In the 1987 Tribute Tour film, Rossington stated that, eventually, he realised the approaching tenth anniversary of the plane crash would spawn a Skynyrd celebration effort from someone, somewhere, and so "it might as well be done right". As such, he became involved in the reunion of all of the crash survivors, Ed King returning to the job he left in 1975 and taking on Gaines's guitar parts (no simple task), and Ronnie's youngest brother Johnny VanZant filling the role of lead singer. The band first performed at the Charlie Daniels’ Volunteer Jam in 1987. Rossington used his band as the warm-up act before Skynyrd came on, giving Rossington twice the pressure, but also twice the exhileration and elation after two sets of excellent shows throughout the tour, both of which he was involved with closely.

The Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute Band used the Charlie Daniels jam to launch a three year tour where Skynyrd's classics were played. These included Simple Man, The Ballad of Curtis Leow and of course Sweet Home Alabama. After playing a fifteen song set every night, the band finished with the traditional end piece "Freebird". The song was now a eulogy to Ronnie VanZant, and the others' killed in the crash, replacing its original purpose as a eulogy for the fallen guitarist Duane Allman and bassist Berry Oakley of the Allman Brothers Band who had been killed in traffic accidents in 1971 and 1972 respectively. The song was played as an instrumental, a single spotlight lighting Ronnie’s hat, which was placed on an empty microphone stand in centre stage. To thisday, Rossington's slide part has not lost any of its shine.

The Tribute Band became Lynyrd Skynyrd again eventually, as all members realised how much potential the band had, and how important it was to continue on and to make great music. In the words of Ed King, "The Lynyrd Skynyrd band was a project that none of us got to finish", and so Skynyrd reformed permanently. Rossington has remained with the band, along with pianist Billy Powell (sadly, Leon Wilkeson died in 2001, and in 1995 Ed King suffered health problems which meant he could no longer tour). Dale Rossington now ably fills the role of backup singer, with Carol Chase being the other half of the duo. Gary Rossinton recently had to have a major heart operation, although he has recovered well from this and is now back at work (and play!). In September, 2005, Rossington and Skynyrd performed on the CNN special to raise funds to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Sources and References:

www.skynyrd.com/grbio.html "Freebird: The Movie" (1977/1987) "Lynyrd Skynyrd - Remembering the Freebirds of Southern Rock", Gene Odom and Frank Dorman


The first time Gary Rossington performed in public was in the back of a flat-bed truck for a festival in a church parking lot. The average listener could be excused for thinking that Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Paul Kossoff, and other well-known guitarists were performing on some of the tunes, because Gary and band-mate Allen Collins were excellant students who had listened to their idols' records for years, and they had mastered their instuments sufficiently well to defy just about anyone to close their eyes and know who was really playing. Always quiet and shy, Gary developed a natural style of playing that was much in the manner of Ry Cooder and of Paul Kossoff of Free. In fact, it's been said of Gary that he was the only Guitarist besides Clapton who could play like Kossoff. Laid back and soulful, he preferred to stand in place, his boyish face hidden in hair. One of Gary's first song writing efforts was good enough, to say the least, to appear on Lynyrd Skynyrd's final pre-crash album, Street Survivors, which many critics felt was their finest body of work. Released on the Lynyrd Skynyrd boxed set in 1991, "One More Time" is the first example of quotation music that Skynyrd was fond of performing. Although original in composition, each of these pieces features carefully measured parodies, either subtly or clearly apparant, of rock and roll legends whose work they had most admired.


Taken from the book "Lynyrd Skynyrd - Remembering the Freebirds of Southern Rock" by Gene Odom (friend of Ronnie VanZant and later Skynyrd's security officer) with Frank Dorman contributing.

Excerpt submitted by Sevin Storey at sevin storey@aim.com

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Gary Rossington