Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 25, 1993 TAG: 9305260321
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Just be glad Johnny Van Zant and Lynyrd Skynyrd didn't have to cancel tonight's concert at the Roanoke Civic Center with Bad Company and drivin' n cryin'.
Lead singer Van Zant sprained his ankle and broke his back a week ago after a show in Knoxville, Tenn.
No, not because of any rock 'n' roll antics. Van Zant, 34, wasn't partying or swinging from chandeliers. He had just stepped out of the shower, he explained in a telephone interview Friday.
Coming down a spiral staircase, he decided to skip the last two steps. He twisted his ankle instead and took a spill.
"I hit my tailbone," he said.
His wife helped him to his feet. At first, he didn't think it was anything too serious. "I got up and walked around. I didn't even go to the doctor until the next day."
The doctor told him otherwise. "I thought he was going to give me some sports cream and let me go."
He gave him strict orders instead. Van Zant broke a vertebra in his back, which could have caused paralysis. The injury still could cause Van Zant problems if he falls again.
The doctor allowed him to continue performing. He was back on stage in Bristol two nights after the fall. But no horsing around. Crutches to get around. Help sitting down and standing up. A cumbersome back brace. He would have to sing from a chair.
The good news, though, is that he should heal fine in about eight weeks, Van Zant reported.
His restricted mobility shouldn't be a big problem, either. Van Zant moves around some, but typically he isn't into on-stage aerobics. "I'm not one of these guys who does splits and cartwheels," he said.
The evening before a Lynyrd Skynyrd show in Greenville, S.C., Van Zant blew a sigh of relief about the accident and talked at unusual length about the legendary Southern rock band and its current tour. The group last played Roanoke in 1988.
Laying around and resting, he said he didn't have anything better to do. "You've got me cornered," he said. It also beat "The Young and the Restless" and "Guiding Light," his soap opera alternatives.
Van Zant is the younger brother of original Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, who died in a 1977 plane crash that also killed guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines.
The band disbanded until the younger Van Zant joined most of the remaining band members in 1987 for what was supposed to be a one-time-only reunion concert to commemorate the plane crash of 10 years earlier.
The new incarnation of Lynyrd Skynyrd has been together ever since.
Van Zant said he was relieved he didn't have to cancel any concerts just now as the group is establishing an identity of its own, separate from the original band. The group has worked hard not to be purely a nostalgia act.
This year, the group released its second studio album since reuniting. The album is doing well and is getting air play on rock radio accustomed to usually playing only classic Lynyrd Skynyrd.
In concert, Van Zant said, the band includes a half-dozen new songs but otherwise sticks to the standards. Probably his favorite is "Simple Man." "Lyrically, it's just such a great song," he said.
The band's favorite is the enduring Southern rock anthem, "Free Bird." "Because they can get down with it at the end," he said. Of course, it remains the band's crowd-pleasing encore.
A solo singer on his own, Van Zant said it was a hard decision to step into his brother's big boots. He knew there would be skeptics. But he contends he is not trying to be his brother.
He noted, too, that he is comfortable with the band's level of popularity. He said he is not trying to outdo his brother, either. "I don't know if we want to be any bigger. I don't think anybody wants to be like Elvis or Michael Jackson."
He agreed to play fill-in finally to honor his brother, and he said he feels honored to pay him that tribute. He said fans have been supportive, and it feels good to give them a chance to retreat for two hours into Lynyrd Skynyrd's heyday. He offers no apologies. He has no regrets.
Nor does he ignore the past.
He recalled the day of his brother's death. He was outside in the yard with his father trimming the hedges when the telephone call came. He was 18 and starting his own musical career at the time. Ronnie was his hero.
It is still a painful memory, he said.
"Hell, you don't ever get over nothing like that."
LYNYRD SKYNYRD AND BAD COMPANY: Tonight, 7, 7 p.m., Roanoke Civic Center. With drivin' n cryin'. $18.50 advance, available at box office (981-1201) or TicketMaster locations.
\ Band has certainly had its ups and downs
1965: High school classmates Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington and Allen Collins form their first band, My Backyard. Over next five years, they also toy with names Wild Cats, The Nobel 5, The One Percent and the Pretty Ones.
1970: Lynyrd Skynyrd officially forms, named after high school gym teacher, Leonard Skinner, who persecuted Van Zant, Rossington and Collins for having long hair. Others in band are Bob Burns, Rick Medlocke and Larry Junstrom.
1971: Junstrom leaves band and later joins .38 Special. Replaced by Greg Walker. Roadie Billy Powell becomes keyboard player. Group goes into the studio, but material is not released until 1978 on "Skynyrd's First and . . . Last."
1972: More personnel changes. Walker departs with Medlocke to join Blackfoot. Replaced by Leon Wilkerson, who quits after six months. Ed King -- formerly of the group, Strawberry Alarm Clock and co-writer of its hit "Incense and Peppermints" -- joins the lineup.
1973: Releases debut album, "Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd." Includes songs, "Tuesday's Gone," "Gimme Three Steps," "Simple Man" and signatures song, "Free Bird," a tribute to Duane Allman.
Lands opening spot on The Who's "Quadrophenia" tour.
Wilkerson re-joins on bass, allowing group its triple-guitar lineup with Ed King, Gary Rossington and Allen Collins. Billy Powell is on keyboards. Bob Burns is on drums. Ronnie Van Zant is lead vocalist.
1974: Releases "Second Helping." Includes "Don't Ask Me No Questions," "The Ballad of Curtis Loew," "Workin' For MCA" "The Needle and the Spoon," "Call Me the Breeze" and "Sweet Home Alabama," a reply to Neil Young's "Southern Man."
1975: Drummer Burns is replaced by Artimus Pyle. Band releases "Nuthin' Fancy." Includes "Saturday Night Special." The aptly titled "Torture Tour" follows, plagued by growing drug and alcohol problems within the band. Halfway through tour, guitarist Ed King quits.
1976: Releases "Gimme Back My Bullets" and hits road with female backers, the Honkettes. Guitarist Steve Gaines -- the brother of Honkette Cassie -- replaces King and triple-guitar attack is restored.
Less than two weeks after Gaines' arrival, group records live double album, "One More From the Road," at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Features seminal version of "Free Bird."
1977: Releases "Street Survivors." Includes "What's Your Name," "That Smell," "I Know a Little" and "You Got That Right." Three days after album is release, the band's chartered plane crashes in Gillsburg, Miss. Six people are killed, including lead singer Van Zant, guitarist Gaines, Cassie Gaines and the band's road manager.
"Street Survivors," featuring cover art of the band engulfed in fire, is recalled from stores and released again without the flames.
1979: The surviving members reunite for a special appearance at Charlie Daniels' Volunteer Jam and perform an instrumental version of "Free Bird" in eulogy to Van Zant and the others killed in the crash.
Later that year, Gary Rossington and Allen Collins form the Rossington-Collins band, with Leon Wilkerson, Billy Powell from Lynryd Skynyrd, and featuring Dale Krantz on lead vocals.
1979-1985: Rossington-Collins produces two albums. Neither matches the success of anything from Lynyrd Skynyrd. Krantz eventually marries Rossington and duo forms their own band, called Rossington. Collins, Wilkerson and Powell continue as the Allen Collins Band.
1986: At age 34, Collins is paralyzed in a drunken-driving accident in Florida that also kills his girlfriend. He pleads guilty to charges of driving while intoxicated and manslaughter.
1987: To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the plane crash, Rossington organizes Lynyrd Skynyrd reunion concert at another Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam. Lineup includes original members Rossington, Powell, Wilkerson, Artimus Pyle -- and Ed King, who had left the band in 1975. They are joined by new guitarist Randall Hall, who was hand-picked by the disabled Collins as his replacement, and Johnny Van Zant, younger brother of Ronnie Van Zant.
Concert is followed by a tour and live album, "Southern by the Grace of God."
1991: Allen Collins dies of pneumonia.
Band releases "Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991," first new studio album in 14 years. Includes "Smokestack Lightning" and features new drummer, Custer. Tour follows with Custer and Artimus Pyle sharing the drum duties.
Later that year, Pyle quits.
1993: Releases current album, "The Last Rebel," in February.
by CNB