The guitarist Gary Rossington, who has died aged 71, was the last surviving original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, who formed in Florida in the mid-1960s. He was a pivotal part of the group as both musician and songwriter, his most arresting claim to fame being his slide guitar work on the band’s imperishable theme song, Free Bird. He also co-wrote their most successful single, the US Top 10 hit Sweet Home Alabama, and wrote songs regularly throughout the band’s career, up to their final studio album, Last of a Dyin’ Breed (2012).
Lynyrd Skynyrd reached the US Top 30 with each of their first five albums, three reaching double platinum status, but the group was plagued by a horrific litany of tragedies. Rossington, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, had survived a road accident in 1976 in which his car hit a tree, prompting Skynyrd’s lead vocalist, Ronnie Van Zant, to write the song That Smell – “Ooh that smell / The smell of death surrounds you”.
