Pick a Day

Ronnie Van Zant (Lynyrd Skynyrd vocalist, guitarist, and driving force) is born in Jacksonville, Florida.

Thomas Delmer Pyle is born in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1974, under the name Artimus Pyle, he joins the band Lynyrd Skynyrd. His musical career with Skynyrd earns him induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

Steve Gaines (guitarist/songwriter for Lynyrd Skynyrd) is born in Seneca, Missouri, but would be raised in Miami, Oklahoma.

Rickey Medlocke, Lynyrd Skynyrd member and frontman of the band Blackfoot, is born in Jacksonville, Florida. He is inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

Gary Rossington is born in Jacksonville, Florida. He becomes a founding member and guitarist of both Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Rossington-Collins Band. Rossington is inducted into the Rock and Hall of Fame in 2006 as a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Leon Wilkeson (bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd) is born in Newport, Rhode Island.

Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboard player Billy Powell is born in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Allen Collins (guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd) is born Larkin Allen Collins Jr. in Jacksonville, Florida.

Guitarist/vocalist Hughie Thomasson (of Outlaws and Lynyrd Skynyrd) is born in Tampa, Florida.

Johnny Van Zant is born in Jacksonville, Flordia. He performs and records with the Johnny Van Zant Band and as a solo artist, but is best known for succeeding his deceased brother Ronnie Van Zant as frontman for Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1987.

On their first American tour, The Rolling Stones stop in Jacksonville, Florida. In the audience is 17-year-old Ronnie Van Zant, who decides then and there that he wants to be a singer in a rock band. He later forms Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Lynyrd Skynyrd release their debut album, Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd. It's an impressive set, containing the Skynyrd classics "Tuesday's Gone," "Simple Man" and "Free Bird."More

Lynyrd Skynyrd release their second album, Second Helping, which opens with "Sweet Home Alabama."

Lynyrd Skynyrd follow up Second Helping with their third album, Nuthin' Fancy.

Lynyrd Skynyrd release the single "Saturday Night Special." The B-side is "Made in the Shade." It's the only single released from the Nuthin' Fancy album.

Lynyrd Skynyrd release Gimme Back My Bullets. It's their fourth album, following Nuthin' Fancy and preceding Street Survivors, which is their last release before a fatal plane crash ends the original lineup.

Lynyrd Skynyrd, Todd Rundgren, 10cc and The Rolling Stones play the Knebworth festival in England.

Lynyrd Skynyrd release their first live album, One More from the Road. It's the only live album the band releases before a 1977 plane wreak ends the original lineup and puts the band out of commission entirely for fourteen years.

Garry Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd falls asleep at the wheel of his new Ford Torino and hits a tree and a house. The incident inspires their song "That Smell."

Lynyrd Skynyrd are celebrated before the Atlanta Braves home opener in a ceremony to honor the band for their live album One More For The Road, which was recorded at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd is laid to rest in a Jacksonville cemetery five days after dying in a plane crash that also killed band members Steve and Cassie Gaines. Skynyrd piano player Billy Powell is the only band member healthy enough to attend the funeral, and even he is on crutches with stitches on his face from the crash.

Lynyrd Skynyrd members Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines die in a plane crash in Mississippi. Gaines' sister Cassie, a backup singer with the group, is also killed along with two pilots and the band's manager. Other members of the group are badly injured.More

In Greenville, South Carolina, Lynyrd Skynyrd play their last show before the plane crash that kills three of their members. Nazareth is the opening act.

Lynyrd Skynyrd release Street Survivors, the last album with frontman Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines, as both are killed only three days later after the band's plane goes down en route to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.More

Lynyrd Skynyrd reunite at the Volunteer Jam in Nashville, Tennessee. This is the first time the band have played since the 1977 plane crash that killed three of their members. Lynyrd Skynyrd perform an instrumental version of "Free Bird" alongside The Charlie Daniels Band.

The 300-pound marble slab marking the grave of Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zant is stolen from a cemetery in Orange Park, Florida. Police find it two weeks later in a dry river bed.

Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Allen Collins is left paralyzed from a car accident that kills his female companion. He can't play with the re-formed band the next year, but chooses his replacement: Randall Hall.

At the Starwood Ampitheater in Nashville, Lynyrd Skynyrd reunite for a tour to mark the 10th anniversary of the plane crash that killed lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines.More

Lynyrd Skynyrd release Southern by the Grace of God, their second live album. It features music recorded in 1987 in what was supposed to be a one-time touring tribute to band members who died in a 1977 plane wreck that seemingly ended the band. Four years later, an updated Lynyrd Skynyrd lineup records new material and begins touring again regularly.

Original Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Allen Collins, a survivor of their 1977 plane crash, dies of pneumonia - a complication of paralysis caused by a 1986 car accident.