Artist · EveryDisc catalogue

Lynyrd Skynyrd

An American rock band, the most well-known representative and popularizer of Southern rock in the 1970s. The band formed in 1964 in Jacksonville, Florida, and was initially called My Backyard. Later, the group successively changed its name, first to The Noble Five, and then to One Percent, and only in 1969 did the musicians settle on Lynyrd Skynyrd. The band gained worldwide fame for its concert performances and the songs "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird," which are the band's calling cards. In 1977, at the peak of their fame, three band members died in a plane crash, which caused the band to break up. In 1987, the remaining members of the band reunited to continue concert activities. Johnny Van Zant, the younger brother of the band's founder Ronnie Van Zant, took over as vocalist.