Guitarist Gary Rossington Cause of Death Tragic: Lynyrd Skynyrd Member Suffered Health Issues Years Before Passing

Lynyrd Skynyrd's remaining original member, Gary Rossington, has died at the age of 71, the band confirmed in a statement.

The official Facebook page of Lynyrd Skynyrd asked everyone to keep Rossington's bereaved family in their prayers amid the darkest moment in their lives.

"It is with our deepest sympathy and sadness that we have to advise, that we lost our brother, friend, family member, songwriter and guitarist, Gary Rossington, today," the statement continued. "Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does."

The announcement did not provide details regarding Gary Rossington's cause of death. But several publications noted that the guitarist had been dealing with health issues in the past decades before his death.

According to The Guardian, Rossington had a heart attack in 2015. In 2021, he underwent emergency heart surgery. It remains unknown whether his issues with his heart contributed to his passing.

But in 2016, he revealed in an interview that he decided to keep playing with the band despite his health problems because he never planned to retire. For the guitarist, one should keep it up if they got something for themselves and do it as much as they could.

Gary Rossington Remembered After His Death

After losing one of the greats in the rock industry, musicians, fans, and colleagues paid tribute to Rossington and expressed their heartbreaks as they lost the last remaining member of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Charlie Daniels, Travis Tritt, Matt Pinfield, and more left saddening messages to remember Rossington's legacy following his death.

Rossington was the last original member to pass away. Before his death, his bandmates faced demise in the past few decades.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's original vocalist Ronald Van Zant died on Oct. 20, 1977, when he was only 29 years old after the plane he was riding from Greenville, South Carolina, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, ran out of fuel and hit a tree. He died alongside his other bandmates, Cassie Gaines and Steve Gaines.

Bob Burns, whose real name was Robert Lewis Burns Jr., died in 2015 after a single car crash in Georgia. Allen Collins died in January 1990 following chronic pneumonia, while Larry Junstrom passed away in 2019 after his long battle with a brain tumor.

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