Ronnie Van Zant

Infobox musical artist
Name = Ronnie Van Zant


Img_capt = Ronnie Van Zant performing on stage
Img_size =
Landscape =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Ronald Wayne Van Zant
Alias =
Born = Birth date|1948|1|15|df=yes Jacksonville, Florida , U.S.
Died = Death date and age|1977|10|20|1948|1|15|df=yes Gillsburg, Mississippi, U.S.
Instrument =
Genre = Southern rock
Occupation = Musician, Songwriter
Years_active = 1964 – 1977
Label =
Associated_acts = Lynyrd Skynyrd
URL =

Ronald Wayne "Ronnie" Van Zant (January 15 1948 [Social Security Death Master Index 2007.] – October 20 1977) was the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and a founding member of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was the older brother of .38 Special founder and vocalist Donnie Van Zant and current Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist Johnny Van Zant.

Early life

Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida to Lacy (1915-2004) and Marion (1929-2000) Van Zant. Van Zant aspired to be many things before finding his love for music. Notably, Ronnie was interested in becoming a boxer (as Muhammad Ali was one of his idols) and in playing professional baseball. Ronnie also tossed around the idea of becoming a stock-car racer. In fact, he would say that he was going to be the most famous person to come out of Jacksonville since Lee Roy Yarbrough. However, after seeing The Rolling Stones with his future bandmates, Ronnie decided on his future career path.Fact|date=April 2008

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Van Zant formed Skynyrd late in the summer of 1964 with friends and schoolmates Allen Collins (guitar), Gary Rossington (guitar), Larry Junstrom (bass), and Bob Burns (drums). Lynyrd Skynyrd's name was inspired by a gym teacher the boys had in high school, Leonard Skinner, who disapproved of students with long hair. [SKYNYRD]

The band's national exposure began in 1973 with the release of their debut album, "(pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd)", which has a string of hits and fan favorites including: "I Ain't the One", "Tuesday's Gone", "Gimme Three Steps", "Simple Man" and their signature song, "Freebird", which he later dedicated to the late Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's biggest hit single, although "Freebird" was a close second, was "Sweet Home Alabama" which came off the album "Second Helping". "Sweet Home Alabama" was an answer song to Neil Young's "Alabama" and "Southern Man". The common belief that Van Zant and Young were rivals is incorrect; they were actually fans of each other and considered collaborating on several occasions.Fact|date=April 2008 Young's song "Powderfinger" on the 1979 album "Rust Never Sleeps" was reportedly written for Skynyrd, and Van Zant is pictured on the cover of "Street Survivors" wearing a t-shirt of Young's "Tonight's the Night".

Personal life

Van Zant was married twice. His first marriage was to Nadine Inscoe and during this marriage Ronnie's first daughter Tammy Van Zant was born. During his second marriage to Judy, Melody Van Zant (his second daughter) was born. Van Zant was known to be superstitious; he hated snakes and hated to fly.Fact|date=April 2008 Despite the unflattering mention of Neil Young in "Sweet Home Alabama", they were a close friends and the two mutually admired each other's work. He was also a huge fan of Jimi Hendrix. Many of his bandmates said of him that "he would give the shirt off his back to anyone".Fact|date=July 2008

Death

On October 20, 1977, a Convair 240 carrying the band between shows from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana crashed outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. The passengers had been informed about problems and told to brace for impact. [US National Transportation Safety Board 1978, p6.] Ronnie was thrown from the mangled wreckage and died of a blunt trauma injury to his head.Fact|date=September 2008 Bandmates Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray were also killed. Remaining band members survived, although all were seriously injured. [Check-Six 2007.]

Van Zant often told those closest to him he would never live to see 30 and he wanted to die with his boots on.Fact|date=April 2008 He died three months short of his 30th birthday.

Van Zant's younger brother, Johnny, took over as the new lead singer when the band reunited in 1987.

Van Zant was buried in Orange Park, Florida in 1977, but was relocated after vandals broke into his and bandmate Steve Gaines' tombs on June 29, 2000. Van Zant's casket was pulled out and dropped on the ground. The bag containing Gaines' ashes was torn open and some scattered onto the grass. [Anderson 2000.] Their mausoleums at Orange Park remain as memorials for fans to visit.

According to the cemetery listing website Find-a-Grave, Van Zant was reburied at Riverside Memorial Park in Jacksonville, near the grave of his father Lacy and mother Marion. Both his current resting place and the empty mausoleum in Orange Park are listed. The following statement was made on the Find-a-Grave entry of his current resting place in Jacksonville: "Due to the June 29th, 2000 vandalization of his original grave site, his casket was moved to this new location and buried in a massive underground concrete burial vault. To open the vault would require a tractor with a lift capability of several tons. It is also patrolled by security." [Soorus 2002.]

Quotes

Notes

*cite web
author = Anderson, R. Michael
date = 2000-06-30
title = Van Zant's tomb defaced
url = http://www.jacksonville.com/special/lynyrdskynyrd/vanzantstombdefaced.html
publisher = The Florida Times-Union
accessdate = 2008-07-05
*cite web
author = Check-Six
date = 2007-05
title = The 'Lynyrd Skynyrd' Crash
url = http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/LynyrdSkynyrd-N55VM.htm
accessdate = 2008-07-05
*cite web
title = SKYNYRD HISTORY LESSONS - Name Changes and Ten Dollar Gigs
url = http://www.lynyrdskynyrdhistory.com/less2.html
publisher = The Official Lynyrd Skynyrd History Website
accessdate = 2008-07-05
*cite web
author = Social Security Death Master Index
date = 2007-05
title = Ronald Van Zant Social Security Death Index (#73220275)
url = http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/zsearch.aspx?ix=ssdiall&qt=l&zfn=Ronald&zln=Van+Zant
accessdate = 2008-07-05
*cite web
author = Soorus
date = 2002-09-01
title = Current Find-A-Grave Record for Ronnie Van Zant
url = http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Van+Zant&GSsr=41&GRid=6742069&
publisher = Find-A-Grave
accessdate = 2008-07-05
*cite web
author = US National Transportation Safety Board
date = 1978-06-19
title = Aircraft Accident Report - L & J Company, Convair 240, N55VM, Gillsburg, Mississippi, October 20, 1977
url = http://amelia.db.erau.edu/reports/ntsb/aar/AAR78-06.pdf
format = PDF
pages = 23 pages
publisher = National Technical Information Service
accessdate = 2008-07-05

External links

* [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19771020-1&lang=en NTSB Aircraft Accident Report for N55VM ]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Van+Zant&GSsr=41&GRid=1057& Original Find-a-Grave entry]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Van+Zant&GSsr=41&GRid=6742069& Current Find-a-Grave entry]