Gary Rossington
| Gary Rossington | |
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Gary Rossington
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gary Robert Rossington |
| Born |
December 4, 1951 Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. |
| Genres | Blues rock, boogie rock, hard rock, Southern rock |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1964–present |
| Associated acts | Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Rossington-Collins Band, The Rossington Band |
Gary Robert Rossington (born December 4, 1951) is an American musician, best known as a founding member of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He plays lead and occasional rhythm guitar. He is also a founding member of The Rossington-Collins Band along with former Lynyrd Skynyrd bandmate, Allen Collins. Rossington is the last original member still with the band as of 2017.
His mother Berniece (for whom the song by Lynyrd Skynyrd is named for as a tribute by Rossington) recalled that Gary had a childhood interest in baseball and aspired to become a New York Yankee, and Gary himself recalled that he was a "good ball player" until he heard The Rolling Stones and gave up his baseball career.
Rossington formed the band "The Noble Five" as a teenager with friends Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, Larry Junstrom and Bob Burns in the summer of 1964. They would later change the name of the band to "The One Percent" before becoming Lynyrd Skynyrd.
According to a New York Times article, Lacy Van Zant, patriarch of the Van Zant family, once went to West Jacksonville's Robert E. Lee High School to plead Rossington's case to school administrators after the fatherless Rossington was suspended for having long hair. Lacy Van Zant explained to the assistant principal that Rossington's father, who died shortly after Rossington was born, had died in the Army and that Rossington's mother needed the money Rossington made playing in his band. Lacy Van Zant further explained that, like his own sons, they were working men and long hair was part of the job.
Rossington's instrument of choice was a 1959 Gibson Les Paul that he purchased from a woman whose boyfriend had left her and left behind his guitar. He named it "Berniece" in honor of his mother whom he was extremely close to after the death of his father. Rossington played lead guitar on "Tuesday's Gone" and the slide guitar for "Free Bird". Along with Collins, Rossington also provided the guitar work for "Simple Man".
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