Forty-five years ago today, Thursday, October 20th, 1977, three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were killed when their plane crashed in Mississippi.
They were 28-year-old lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, 28-year-old guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister, 29-year-old background vocalist Cassie Gaines. Also killed in the crash were assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick and pilots Walter McCreary and William Gray.
The band was en route from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for a show the next night when the chartered Convair CV-300 -- previously used by Aerosmith -- encountered a faulty engine. The pilots were diverted to the McComb-Pike County Airport but ran out of fuel when they attempted an emergency landing before crashing in a heavily wooded area five miles northeast of Gillsburg, Mississippi.
Drummer Artimus Pyle, who suffered torn chest cartilage, made his way through the forest, a field and creek to get help. However, Johnny Mote, owner of the farmhouse he came upon, mistook him for an escaped convict and fired a warning shot over his head.
The tour was in support of their fifth album, Street Survivors, which was released three days earlier. With the album cover showing the band engulfed in flames, MCA Records withdrew it and replaced it with the album's back photo, a similar image of the band against a black backdrop.
Skynyrd split up shortly afterward before reuniting in 1987 with Ronnie's youngest brother, Johnny Van Zant, taking over on vocals. Guitarist Gary Rossington is the only founding member and crash survivor still in the band.
Pyle, who left in 1991, is the only other surviving member. Guitarist Allen Collins died in 1990, bassist Leon Wilkeson in 2001, and keyboardist Billy Powell in 2009.
Source: Lynyrd Skynyrd.com and Premiere