Lynyrd Skynyrd was formed in 1964 in Jacksonville, Florida and they had the chance to release their first album in 1973. Sadly, their career was cut short at their prime with a tragic airplane crash that killed the lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and the guitarist Steve Gaines in 1977. The surviving musicians reunited in 1987 with Johnny Van Zant’s little brother Johnny on vocals and since then they were touring around the world. The only constant original surviving member of the group after the reunion was the guitarist Gary Rossington who passed away last year.
Even after his passing, the band decided to continue as Lynyrd Skynyrd and the guitarist Rickey Medlocke defended in an interview with WDHA FM (Transcribed by Ultimate Guitar), the band’s line-up with no original members.
Rickey Medlocke defends Lynyrd Skynyrd line-up with no original members
“There have been times that Gary… Several times, we would be on the bus, and at the time when he was getting to the point to where he was really struggling to be on the road, he was saying, ‘I never want the band to go by the wayside, and the music just disappear along with myself and the rest of the original guys, only to just be heard on the radio, or just be heard by cover bands’ or whatever.”
“So when it happened, Johnny and I talked and we…it was hard, it was a hard decision to do, but the one thing that was really powerful was, when it did happen, all the fans sent us, I mean, tens of thousands of stuff rolled in on the Skynyrd website, and each one of our websites and Facebook and Instagram and all that stuff.”
He continued:
“The one deciding factor was the fans always said, ‘Please don’t let this be the end of it.’ And so, with that in mind, Johnny and I decided, ‘Hey, let’s go to all the people that are involved, the estates. And let’s talk to them, and let’s see if we can’t work it out, to where we take the band out, and we continue as Lynyrd Skynyrd,’ because Johnny and I felt…”
“Look, our time in the band, it is Lynyrd Skynyrd. Johnny, the original singer’s little brother that’s been there for, oh my God, since ’87. I’ve been back with the band since ’96 what? 28 going on, 29 years now, two and a half years in the very beginning. So my tenure is over 30 years with the band.”
Medlocke was a member of Skynyrd from 1971 to 1972 (Playing the drums) and returned to the line-up in 1996 as a guitarist. The band has many scheduled tour dates in 2024. They even will tour with ZZ Top across the United States.