Lynyrd Skynyrd lost one of its founding members on March 5, 2023, when Gary Rossington died. He was 71. Rossington had continued to perform with the band, even as late as February 2023, BBC reports.
Gary Rossington’s Band Continued With Their Planned Show
The band is still making music, but not with its founding members. Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s guitarist, Damon Johnson, revealed why the band played a concert in Florida after Rossington’s death, and how his widow, Dale Krantz Rossington, had convinced them it was the right thing to do. He made his comments in an interview on “The Rock ‘n’ Blues Experience” in September 2025.
“I just remember we played a show in Florida,” Johnson recalled. “We had discussed cancelling that show, and it was the legendary Dale Krantz Rossington, who you know, that reached out to Johnny and Ricky, and she said, ‘Under no circumstances do I want you guys to cancel. I want you to go play that show, honor my husband and your brother Gary.’”
The day after the concert, Johnson and the band attended Gary’s funeral in Jacksonville, Florida. “So we literally came off stage onto the buses and we drove about 90 minutes north to Jacksonville to be there for the funeral the next day,” Johnson said.
He continued to share the feelings during that first performance since Rossington’s death. “So, you know, the show was very somber. We were all incredibly sad. The audience was incredibly sad. And at the same time, there was this real feeling of gratitude to Gary,” Johnson said. “There was a feeling of honouring him and all of his work, his body of work. And of course, just the legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd in general. It was just a heavy, heavy moment because Gary was the last original member.”
Lynyrd Skynyrd Loses an Iconic Member
When Rossington passed, the band mourned his loss with a statement shared on Facebook. “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,” the statement read. “Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does.”
On October 20, 1977, Rossington was one of 20 survivors of a plane crash that claimed the lives of “lead singer and founder Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and his sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines,” Fox News Digital reports. The pilot, co-pilot, and the band’s assistant road manager also died in the accident.
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