Steve Gaines (musician)

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Steven Earl Gaines (born September 14, 1949 in Miami , Oklahoma , † October 20, 1977 in Gillsburg , Mississippi ) was an American musician . He is best known for his work with the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd .

After Gaines attended a Beatles concert as a teenager , he began to play the guitar. His first band, The Ravens, made their first recordings at the famous Sun Records Studios in Memphis . He later played in the bands RIO Smokehouse, Rusty Day, Detroit and Crawdad in the 1970s. He also recorded some songs with his friend and producer John Ryan and musicians from Crawdad in Macon , Georgia in 1975 , which were released posthumously on his only solo album One in the Sun in 1988 by MCA Records .

Lynyrd Skynyrd

In 1976, Steve's sister Cassie Gaines became part of the backing singers, the Honkettes. During this time, the band was also looking for a successor to Ed King, who dropped out during the Torture Tour in 1975 . Cassie Gaines recommended her brother, after initial reluctance on the part of the band, they agreed to a guest appearance at a concert. After a month he became a permanent member of the band, just right for the recording of the live album One More from the Road .

Steve's skills as a guitarist and songwriter were evident on the 1977 album Street Survivors , which is one of the band's most successful albums. It was the group's first Top 5 album and reached gold status ten days after its release. It clearly surpassed its 1976 predecessor Gimme Back My Bullets , which only made it into the top 20 album charts. The plane crash shortly after the official album release and the subsequent media coverage played a role here.

Three days after the album was released, October 20, 1977, the plane chartered by the band - a Convair CV 300 - crashed on a flight between Greenville and Baton Rouge near Gillsburg . Steve Gaines died at the age of 28. Furthermore came Ronnie Van Zant , Cassie Gaines, road manager Dean Kilpatrick and the pilot Walter McCreary and William Gray died.

After his death

Steve Gaines' ashes were buried in Orange Park in October 1977 . However, his and Ronnie Van Zant's urns were reburied in an unknown location in 2000 after rioters broke into their tombs. These are still in the old places as a place of pilgrimage for fans.

Steve Gaines was honored with a song by the alternative country band Drive-By Truckers in 2001 : Cassie's Brother .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Steve Gaines at allmusic.com
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ↑ Biography on the official Lynyrd Skynyrd-History page
  4. ↑ [2]
  5. ↑ [3]
  6. ↑ Doomed Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Almost Bought By Aerosmith . October 20, 2014. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  7. ↑ Air accident 20 OCT 1977 of a Convair CV-300 N55VM - Gillsburg, MS . October 20, 1977. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Gaines, Steve
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gaines, Steven Earl (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Miami , Oklahoma
DATE OF DEATH 20th October 1977
Place of death near Gillsburg , Mississippi