Lynyrd Skynyrd became one of the biggest names in Southern rock, selling more than 28 million records, and was riding high in 1977 on its newly released 'Street Survivors' album when a plane carrying band members crashed in the Mississippi woods, killing Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, singer Cassie Gaines, the band's road manager and the plane's two pilots. They recruited bass player Larry Junstrom and guitarists Rossington and Allen Collins to start the band, which went by various monikers in the 1960s - My Backyard, the Noble Five, Conqueror Worm, the Pretty Ones, Sons of Satan, the One Percent - before finally being named for Leonard Skinner, a gym teacher at what was then Lee High School who hassled Rossington, Burns and Van Zant about their long hair. According to Skynyrd legend, the band started in the mid-1960s when singer Ronnie Van Zant met drummer Bob Burns on a Jacksonville baseball field. Rossington, who grew up off Cassat Avenue on Jacksonville's Westside, was a founding member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act.

Remembering the tragic plane crash: What might have been for Lynyrd Skynyrd? Lynyrd Skynyrd: Timeline of band's history Vote today: Pick the best musical act from Jacksonville: Vote now in our March Madness tournament Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist and founder Gary Rossington died Sunday.

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