Raymond Berry Oakley
April 4, 1948 – November 11, 1972
Berry Oakley was the founding bassist for legendary southern rock band, the Allman Brothers Band. After moving to Florida from his hometown of Chicago, Oakley began playing with Dickey Betts. The two soon hooked up to form the Allman Brothers with Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, and Jamoie Johanson. They went on to become one of the most influential rock bands America has ever produced. Albums like The Allman Brothers Band, At Fillmore East, and Eat A Peach are considered landmark recordings of the rock era. Oakley’s bass skills are particularly evident on At Fillmore East’s “Whipping Post.” Berry Oakley, 24, died of head injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. The crash occured just three blocks from where Duane Allman was killed in an earilly similar motorcycle crash just one year earilier.
Howard Duane Allman
November 26, 1946 – October 29, 1971
Beforebecoming a household name as founding lead guitarist for the Allman Brothers Band, Duane Allman was an in-demand session guitarist who played on many classic records of the late ’60s. His amazing guitar work was first heard on Wilson Picket’s superb 1968 recording of “Hey Jude.” Eric Clapton was so impressed by Allman’s playing on that record, that he invited him down to the studio for the Derek & the Dominos sessions. The two clicked and Allman joined on to add his signature guitar sound to most of the tracks on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. It’s Allman’s guitar that is the most recognizable and most celebrated on the album. Allman also played on hit recordings by the likes of Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge, Clarence Carter and Boz Scaggs. In 1969, he and his brother Gregg Allman, formed the Allman Brothers band, which went on to become one of the most influential rock bands America has ever produced. Albums like The Allman Brothers Band, At Fillmore East, and Eat A Peach are considered landmark recordings of the rock era. In Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, Allman came in at #2, just behind Jimi Hendrix. On October 29, 1971, just as the Allman Brothers were reaching new heights in their career, Allman was out riding his motorcycle while the band was taking a break from the road. In what was ruled an accident, Allman lost control of his bike as he tried to avoid a large truck that was turning up ahead of him. Duane Allman died of his injuries at a local hospital. He was just 24.
Ronnie Van Zant
January 15, 1948 – October 20, 1977
Ronnie Van Zant was the singer and main songwriter for southern rock powerhouse, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the band he formed in 1964 with fellow high school classmates. The band slugged it out on the road in and around the southeast region of the U.S. until they got their break by getting signed to MCA Records in 1972. The following year, they released their debut album, pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd, which included such future hits and Southern rock staples as “Gimme Three Steps,” “Tuesday’s Gone,” and of course, “Free Bird.” The hits continued to roll in and the band soon found them self touring with such bands as the Who and the Rolling Stones. By late 1977, the band was as popular as any in America, had just completed their Street Survivors album, and were in the middle of what was to be their biggest tour yet. But then one of popular music’s worst tragedies struck. On October 20, 1977, while flying between shows in Greenville, South Carolina and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, their small chartered plane experienced engine trouble causing it to crash outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. Dead on impact were band members, Ronnie Van Zant (29), Cassie Gaines (29), Steve Gaines (28), road manager, Dean Kilpatrick, the pilot and co-pilot.
Steve Gaines
September 14, 1949 – October 20, 1977
Photo by Jimicrab Steve
Steve Gaines was an up-and-coming rock guitarist and songwriter when he was invited to join Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1976, thanks in part to a recommendation by his sister, Cassie Gaines who had recently joined the band as a backup singer. Altough he played on just one album, Street Survivors, his contribution to the band’s legacy can not be denied. On October 20, 1977, while flying between shows in Greenville, South Carolina and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, their small chartered plane experienced engine trouble causing it to crash outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. Dead on impact were band members, Ronnie Van Zant(29), Cassie Gaines (29), Steve Gaines (28), road manager, Dean Kilpatrick, the pilot and co-pilot.
Cassie Gaines was part of gospel trio who, in 1975 were invited to join Lynyrd Skynyrd as back-up singers. Her brother, Steve Gaines, joined shortly thereafter. On October 20, 1977, while flying between shows in Greenville, South Carolina and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, their small chartered plane experienced engine trouble causing it to crash outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. Dead on impact were band members, Ronnie Van Zant(29), Cassie Gaines (29), Steve Gaines (28), road manager, Dean Kilpatrick, the pilot and co-pilot.
Hughie Thomasson
August 13, 1952 – September 9, 2007
Best known as the founding guitarist and songwriter for southern rock legends, the Outlaws, Hughie Tomasson gave us such classic rock songs as “Green Grass And High Tides,” “There Goes Another Love Song,” and “Hurry Sundown.” He later joined Lynyrd Skynyrd as a guitarist and songwriter. Hughie Thomasson died of a massive heart attack while napping on September 9, 2007. He was 55.
Bruce Waibel was a rock bass guitarist who played for numerous bands, but most notably, the Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker, and Firehouse. Basically a professional musician by the time he turned 13, Waibel began his career as a roadie for Gregg Allman who later added him to the band, first as guiarist then ultimately, their bassist. Waibel also played with Rick Derringer and Stevie Ray Vaughan. In 2000, he was invited to join Firehouse, with home he played for the next three years, when he left the band to spend more time with his family. On September 2, 2003, Bruce Waibel was found dead in his home of an apparent suicide.
Douglas Allen Woody
October 3, 1955 – August 26, 2000
Allen Woody was a bass player best remembered for his work with the Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule. Woody joined the Allman Brothers when they reunited in 1989. He played on such albums as Seven Turns, Shades Of Two Worlds, and Where It All Begins. In 1994, Woody and Warren Haynes formed Gov’t Mule, first as an Allman’s side project, then as a full-fledged band in 1997. Woody died of a heroin overdose on August 26, 2000.
Jerry Wexler was best known as a music producer who was responsible for some of the greatest music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He also coined the phrase “rhythm and blues” while he was editor of Billboard magazine before he became a partner of Atlantic Records in 1953. While at Atlantic he either produced or signed some of the all time greats of popular music. That list includes Wilson Pickett, Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers. He retired from the music business in the late ’90s, and passed away of congestive heart failure in 2008.
Thanks to the Jeff Ballenberg at Beat Marketing for the lead.
Leon Wilkeson was an up-and-coming bassist in and around Jacksonville, Florida when he was asked to join Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1972. Although he didn’t play on the band’s debut album due to his own apprehension, he played with them for the better part of the next 30 years. With his help, Lynyrd Skynyrd became one of the biggest rock bands of the ’70s. In 1977, tragedy struck when the band’s plane crashed killing band members,Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, and road manager Dean Kilpatrick. Wilkeson was one of the few passangers who survived. The band undertandably dissolved by reformed with the surviving members in 1987. Leon Wilkeson died of emphysema and liver disease on July 27, 2001.
Guitarist Duane Roland, a founding member of the rock band Molly Hatchet, who had a big hit with their 1979 album, Flirtin’ With Disaster. He stayed with the band until 1990. In later years, Roland played with the Southern Rock Allstars and Gator Country. He died of natural causes in his home at the age of 53.
Ean Evans was most recently the bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd, having joined the band in 2001, replacing Leon Wilkeson who had recently passed away. Evans started playing the guitar at 15 and in no time he was gigging around the southeast in various cover bands. He later switched to bass. In 1988 he was asked to join the Outlaws by Hughie Thomasson. Thomasson eventually folded the group to join Lynyrd Skynyrd. Wilkeson followed in 2001. He was diagnosed with cancer in late 2008 and died of the disease on May 6, 2009.
Tommy Caldwell was best known as the bassist the Marshall Tucker Band from 1973 until his death in 1980. The charismatic performer was the crowd pleaser of the band . He also sang backup and wrote some of their songs, including “Melody Ann,” their only song on which he sang lead. His final performance with the band came on the night of April 19, 1980 which was later released as Live On Long Island. Caldwell died just ten days later from injuries he suffered in a jeep accident.
Jakson Spires, founding member of theSouthern Rock Allstars and platinum-selling Southern rockers Blackfoot, died March 16, 2005 near his home Ft. Pierce Florida from a massive brain aneurysm. Spires wrote or co-wrote nearly every SRA song and wrote or co-wrote nearly every Blackfoot song recorded from 1969 until Blackfoot broke up in 1986 including two of the band’s biggest hits, “Highway Song” and “Fly Away”. Spires, also known as “Thunderfoot” for his powerhouse drumming, creative style and Native American roots, was 53. Spurred on by a massive petition drive from fans, Blackfoot was in the midst of reforming and touring together again for the first time this spring and summer. He also continued as a member of SRA. – From SouthernRock.com
As lead singer and songwriter for Molly Hatchet, Danny Joe Brown helped the Southern Rock band achieve success with such hits as “Flirtin’ With Disaster” and “Satified Man.” After an early stint in the US Coast Guard, Brown helped form the band which would be named after a 17th Century prostitute who earned her name by chopping off the heads of her johns. Diabetes started to take its toll on Brown so he was forced to retire from the band in 1980. He had a massive stroke in 1998 and passed away from renal failure due to the diabetes on this date in 2005.
Frank O’Keefe was the original bassist for southern rock band, the Outlaws. Although the band was riding high on a string of what would eventually become classic rock staples, O’Keefe decided to leave the band after suffering a broken neck from a fall in July, 1976. The trials of a hectic life on the road also helped in that decision. That neck injury lead to his reliance on pain medication for the rest of his life. On February 26, 1995, O’Keefe’s lifeless body was found by his roommate in his Clearwater, FL home. He apparently died as a result of drug and alcohol abuse.
Toy Caldwell
November 13, 1947 – February 25. 1993
Toy Caldwell was best known as the lead guitarist and main songwriter in the Marshall Tucker Band. A unique personality as well as a formidable musician, he was a peer of both Dickey BettsandCharlie Daniels, and his best work crossed effortlessly between country, blues, and rock & roll. A few years after the breakup of the Marshall Tucker Band in the late ’80s, he re-emerged as leader of the Toy Caldwell Band, which played small-scale shows of the kind that the Marshall Tucker Band couldn’t do. He also recorded one solo album before his death [in his sleep] in early 1993. Although most of his fame inevitably rests with the Marshall Tucker Band, Caldwell left behind a small but glorious body of solo material. – Bruce Eder (allmusic)
Bill Jones’ beginnings lay in the garage rock scene in Tampa, Florida, during the second half of the ’60s. This was the milieu that produced a band eventually known as the Outlaws. It was not the first or last time this name was used by a rock band, but it was the last time a Southern rock band of any name scored commercial success during the initial period of activity in this genre. Some aspects of Jones’ background seem consistent with the raging Southern rocker image, such as the fact that the father of the band’s drummer, Monte Yoho, was the high school principal who kicked Jones out for wearing his hair too long. Other details are surprising: Jones played tympani in the high school orchestra, and was both an accomplished math major and tutor. Forsaking all for a music career, he dragged a massive B-3 organ around the nightspots of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Yrba City. While that instrument did have its place in Southern rock, crowding as many guitarists on-stage as possible was even more important. Instrumentally, this was the route Jones chose to take in an outfit whose actual music didn’t seem to inspire much loyalty, if the rapid changeover in membership of the touring versions of the Outlaws is to be considered. Jones’ activities prior to the Outlaws were not well-documented, other than an album in 1971 with a Tampa combo called H.Y. Sledge. He contributed heavily to the entire discography of the Outlaws, beginning with the band’s Arista signing. A revival of the genre in the ’90s might have made for an Outlaws’ reunion, but Jones committed suicide in 1995, which was followed by the drug overdose of bassist Frank O’Keefe one month later. – Eugene Chadbourne (allmusic)
Though born in Corpus Christi, future Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist, Billy Powell spent much of his “navy brat” youth in Italy until his father passed away when he was just eight years old. Back in the United States, the Powell family settled in Florida and Billy was enrolled in military school where he learned the piano. Noted as a natural with the instrument, Powell continued his training in college and soon took a job as roadie for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Eventually he was offered a spot in the band after Ronnie Van Zant heard him play. But in 1977, tragedy struck just three days after the release of their landmark Street Survivors album when a plane carrying the band crashed into the swamps of Mississippi killing Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, and manager Dean Kilpatrick. Powell was one of the survivors. For the time being, Lynyrd Skynyrd was no more, so Powell continued on in such bands as Alias,Vision and the Rossington-Collins Band alongside his former Skynyrd bandmates Allen Collins and Gary Rossington. In 1987 Powell, along with the surviving members of Skynyrd reformed and have been together ever since. In the early morning hours of January 28, 2009, paramedics arrived at Powell’s home, responding to his 911 call, reporting he was having shortness of breath. Finding him unconscious, the paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive him. He died of what was presumed to be a heart attack at the age of 56.
Larkin Allen Collins
July 19, 1952 – January 23, 1990
Allen Collins was one of the founding members and guitarists of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and co-wrote most of the band’s songs with late frontman Ronnie Van Zant. His unique guitar playing and songwriting skills were vital to the success of the band during his time with them. He was born in Jacksonville, Florida. Collins joined what would become one of the most memorable rock bands from the South just two weeks after Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington, along with Bob Burns and Larry Junstrom. So came the birth of Lynyrd Skynyrd in the summer of 1964. Collins and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant co-wrote many of the biggest Skynyrd hits, including “Free Bird”, “Gimme Three Steps”, and “That Smell”. The band received national success beginning in 1973 while opening for the Who on their Quadrophenia tour. At the height of success the Lynyrd Skynyrd dream was shattered when their plane crashed into a forest in Mississippi killing three band members, including Van Zant. Collins was seriously injured in the crash, suffering two broken vertebrae in his neck and severe damage to his right arm. While amputation was recommended, Collins’ father refused and Allen eventually recovered. During the early 1980s, Collins continued to perform on stage in The Rossington-Collins Band which enjoyed modest success, charting a few singles (notably “Don’t Misunderstand Me”), and later the Allen Collins Band. In 1981, tragedy struck again as Collins’ wife Kathy suddenly died of a hemorrhage following a miscarriage. In 1986 a car accident killed Collins’ girlfriend and left the guitarist paralyzed from the waist down, with limited use of his arms and hands. Collins plead no contest to vehicular manslaughter as well as driving under the influence of alcohol. He would never play guitar on-stage again. All remaining members of Lynyrd Skynyrd reunited to perform in 1987, but due to his injury Collins was only able to participate as musical director. As part of his plea bargain for the 1986 accident, Collins addressed fans at every Lynyrd Skynyrd concert with an explanation of why he could not perform, citing the dangers of drinking and driving, as well as drugs and alcohol. Because of Collins’ accident, the band donated a sizable amount of concert proceeds from the 1987-88 tour to the Miami Project, which is involved in treatment of paralysis. Allen Collins died 23 January 1990 from chronic pneumonia resulting from complications of his earlier accident. – From wikipedia
Berry Oakley was the founding bassist for legendary southern rock band, the Allman Brothers Band. After moving to Florida from his hometown of Chicago, Oakley began playing with Dickey Betts. The two soon hooked up to form the Allman Brothers with Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Butch Trucks, and Jamoie Johanson. They went on to become one of the most influential rock bands America has ever produced. Albums like The Allman Brothers Band, At Fillmore East, and Eat A Peach are considered landmark recordings of the rock era. Oakley’s bass skills are particularly evident on At Fillmore East’s “Whipping Post.” Berry Oakley, 24, died of head injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. The crash occured just three blocks from where Duane Allman was killed in an earilly similar motorcycle crash just one year earilier.
Ronnie Van Zant was the singer and main songwriter for southern rock powerhouse, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the band he formed in 1964 with fellow high school classmates. The band slugged it out on the road in and around the southeast region of the U.S. until they got their break by getting signed to MCA Records in 1972. The following year, they released their debut album, pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd, which included such future hits and Southern rock staples as “Gimme Three Steps,” “Tuesday’s Gone,” and of course, “Free Bird.” The hits continued to roll in and the band soon found them self touring with such bands as the Who and the Rolling Stones. By late 1977, the band was as popular as any in America, had just completed their Street Survivors album, and were in the middle of what was to be their biggest tour yet. But then one of popular music’s worst tragedies struck. On October 20, 1977, while flying between shows in Greenville, South Carolina and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, their small chartered plane experienced engine trouble causing it to crash outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. Dead on impact were band members, Ronnie Van Zant (29), 
Allen Woody was a bass player best remembered for his work with the Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule. Woody joined the Allman Brothers when they reunited in 1989. He played on such albums as Seven Turns, Shades Of Two Worlds, and Where It All Begins. In 1994, Woody and Warren Haynes formed Gov’t Mule, first as an Allman’s side project, then as a full-fledged band in 1997. Woody died of a heroin overdose on August 26, 2000.
Guitarist Duane Roland, a founding member of the rock band Molly Hatchet, who had a big hit with their 1979 album, Flirtin’ With Disaster. He stayed with the band until 1990. In later years, Roland played with the Southern Rock Allstars and Gator Country. He died of natural causes in his home at the age of 53.
