North Florida Music Hall of Fame

Formed in 1965 by Jacksonville Westsiders Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Bob Burns, Larry Junstrom (now bassist in .38 Special) and Ronnie Van Zant, this group had been a fixture on the Jacksonville scene as One Percent. The band changed its name in 1969, spoofing Lee High School physical-education coach Leonard Skinner, who had made them cut their hair.

After the Allman Brothers Band moved to Macon to sign with Phil Walden, Skynyrd made the move too. Originally co-managed by Walden’s younger brother, Alan, in partnership with Jacksonville’s Pat Armstrong, the group recorded an album’s worth of material in Muscle Shoals with producer Jimmy Johnson. Even with the combined efforts of Johnson and Alan Walden, the album found no takers, not even at Capricorn, Phil Walden’s label. Soldiering on, the band was later “discovered” at Funocchio’s in Atlanta by producer/musician Al Kooper.

Kooper quickly signed the band to his MCA-distributed Sounds of the South label. Manager Walden just as quickly dumped his partner Armstrong as the deal was being done. After hooking up with MCA, Skynyrd became one of the biggest and most influential rock acts of all time, thanks mainly to the white-backlash anthem “Sweet Home, Alabama.”The group was devastated by a plane crash in 1977 when its tour plane ran out of gas near McComb, Miss.

After a decade of short-lived side projects, the remaining members of the band re-formed in 1987 and have been touring steadily ever since, fronted by Van Zant’s youngest brother, Johnny. One of Skynyrd’s early members, Rick Medlocke, who played drums and sang on their first unreleased Muscle Shoals album, rejoined the band on guitar and vocals in 1996. Johnny Van Zant and his brother Donny (of .38 Special) have also enjoyed enormous success as country duo Van Zant, signing with Columbia Records in 2005. Longtime bassist Leon Wilkeson died in 2001 and was replaced by Ean Evans. Lynyrd Skynyrd was inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Also see Rossington Collins Band; Van Zant, Johnny; Collins, Allen; Blackfoot; APB.