Ronnie Van Zant was the lead singer of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd who loved a good bar brawl—and ominously predicted his own fiery demise.
1. He Was An Ill-Fated Rock Legend
Ronnie Van Zant was a founding member and lead singer of the rock n' roll band Lynyrd Skynyrd. In his 29 brief years of life, he managed to fall in love twice, write a few rock classics, and win more than a few bar fights. Sadly, for Van Zant and his fans, it all ended in flames…just as he predicted.
2. He Was Born To Brawl
Ronnie Van Zant didn’t have to learn rock n' roll—he was born into it. The soon-to-be rock legend was born on January 15, 1948, in Jacksonville, Florida to father Lacy Austin Van Zant and mother Marion Virginia. Fistfights and street scuffles were common on the west side of the city where he grew up.
Fortunately, he was born to brawl.
DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
3. He Was The Son Of A Prizefighter
Van Zant’s father, Lacy, worked as a truck driver—but he hadn’t always had such a peaceful career. When he was younger, Lacy had spent time working as a prizefighter. The elder Van Zant made sure that all of his boys could take a punch, and throw one even better. It’s little wonder then that Van Zant grew up admiring Muhammad Ali.
His father taught him more than how to duck and weave.
Bernard Gotfryd, Wikimedia Commons
4. He Played Ball
Van Zant nearly ended up making home runs of a very different kind. In a 1975 interview, he talked about his baseball days. “I went as far as playing American Legion ball,” the rocker reminisced. “The next stop would have been AA (minor league baseball)[…]I had the highest batting average in the league one year and a good arm[…]”.
His pipes, however, were even better than his arm.
Distributed by MCA Records, Wikimedia Commons
5. He Listened To The Radio
Growing up, Van Zant frequently traveled with his father while he worked. No, not as a prizefighter—though a baby Van Zant in the prizefighting ring wouldn’t have been totally unimaginable. He accompanied his father on the road, listening to the truck radio and falling in love with music.
Soon, he was playing music himself—but his first concerts were a little wet.
6. He Was Shower Singer
Like a true rock n' roll legend, even at the height of his career, Van Zant never played in glamorous concert halls or gilded theaters. But his first venue was decidedly dirty: the bathtub. Van Zant’s mother, Marion Virginia, recalled decades later, “They’d play on the piano and guitar, but singing in the bathtub, that was their real thing”.
Not everyone appreciated his impromptu performances.
Gijsbert Hanekroot, Getty Images
7. He Couldn’t Keep Quiet In Class
In that same interview, Marion Virginia went on to describe her son’s first day at school. She recalled, “[…]he sat in the corner with a dunce cap on his head for singing 'Ricochet Romance' and 'Beer Drinkin' Daddy' in the classroom". The little rocker caused such a riot in the school that Marion Virginia had to go down there herself and “tend to him a little bit”.
But Van Zant had the music and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
8. His Band Broke Up
At just 16, Van Zant showed his leadership skills. He formed a band called Us and anointed himself as the group's lead singer. Unfortunately, Us pretty quickly became “I," and the band broke up. Undeterred, however, he started another band called My Backyard with Bob Burns, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, and Larry Junstrom.
They were onto something big.
9. He Took Payment In Drinks
Van Zant’s new band consisted of musicians as young as 13. But that didn’t stop them from rocking out like legends. When they weren’t in school—which was a frequent occurrence—they spent every minute honing their sound. With a name change to Noble Five, they began landing gigs at local dances, accepting payment in gas money and drinks.
But they had just as many detractors as fans.
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10. His Neighbors Were Not Fans
While Van Zant and his new bandmates rocked whichever stage they were on, not everyone appreciated their new sound. They did all of their rehearsals at their parents’ houses, with Van Zant’s booming vocals echoing through the suburban streets. Before long, neighbors began complaining about the noise and took drastic measures to shut them up.
11. He Ran In With The Five-O
Van Zant’s new band started out practicing in the carports and garages of their parents’ homes. They often bounced between houses, based on whoever’s parents would tolerate their racket. Then the neighbors got involved. Rossington recalled, “We used to practice after school until the [authorities] would run us off every night[…]”.
Luckily, their neighbors wouldn’t have to suffer for long.
Gijsbert Hanekroot, Getty Images
12. He Was In Hell…House
With the help of his supportive father, Van Zant and the rest of the Noble Five found a new place to practice and hone their sound. The band of teenage misfits moved their rehearsals to an empty house with a huge farm on the outskirts of town. Appropriately, they nicknamed their new digs “Hell House”. They were certainly raising hell.
Cabin Fever, Freebird... The Movie (1996)
13. He Practiced All Day And Night
“Hell House” was, according to the bandmates, “small and hot and old”. But it was theirs. Far removed from the quiet and artistic sterility of suburbia, Van Zant and the rest of the Noble Five cranked up the volume and perfected their sound. They practiced “on weekends, all day, all night”.
It’s fair to say, however, that they were having something of an identity crisis.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
14. He Couldn’t Decide Who He Was
In those early years, Van Zant and his bandmates experimented. Not so much with different sounds, but with different identities. They continued booking gigs at clubs but always performed under different names. Wildcats, the Sons of Satan, Conqueror Worm, the Pretty Ones, One Percent.
Finally, however, they found their true identity in one hilarious act of defiance.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
15. He Had His Own High School Musical
When they weren’t rocking out in “Hell House,” Van Zant and his band of merry ne’er-do-wells had been stirring up trouble in school. All of the bandmates, with the exception of Collins, had attended Robert E. Lee High School. In a funny twist, their shared experience at the high school ended up giving the band the name that would make them famous.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
16. He Didn’t Dress The Part
Robert E. Lee High School had a strict dress code. According to one former educator at the school, the dress code involved “sideburns not coming below the ears; hair not touching the back of the collar; belts had to be worn; shirt tails had to be in; and socks had to be worn at all times”.
Suffice to say, no rock n' roll legend like Van Zant was going to dress like a stooge.
Cabin Fever, Freebird... The Movie (1996)
17. He Fooled His Teachers
In an effort to defy the dress code, Van Zant would put Vaseline in his hair before school to keep it off of his collar. While the trick fooled most teachers into thinking that he had short hair, there was one teacher who saw straight through the ruse: the gym coach. After gym class, when Van Zant and his bandmates had to shower, the Vaseline came out.
And so did the consequences.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
18. His Luscious Locks Landed Him In Hot Water
According to bandmate Rossington, the coach would patrol the showers after gym class. On more than a few occasions, he caught Van Zant and his fellow rockers with their luscious locks, dripping wet and hanging well below their collar.
Each infraction resulted in a trip to the principal’s and, eventually, suspension. But Van Zant knew how to get even.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
19. He Had A Stroke Of Genius
Fed up with the gym teacher’s constant nagging about their long hair, Rossington flipped the gym teacher the bird, shouted, “I’m gone!” and dropped out of school.
A few nights later, the band was playing a gig at the Forest Inn when Van Zant had a stroke of genius. “Hey, we're One Percent,” he said, “but we're gonna change our name though”.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
20. He Named His Band After His Gym Coach
Almost everyone in the crowd at the Forest Inn was or had been a student at Robert E. Lee High School and knew the strait-laced gym coach: Leonard Skinner. So, when Van Zant shouted into his mic, “Everybody who wants to change [our name] to Leonard Skinner applaud,” the crowd erupted into laughter and cheers.
And that’s how Lynyrd Skynyrd was born. It was only up from there.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
21. He Played Until The Sun Came Up
With a new name and an increasingly sharp sound, Van Zant and his bandmates became staples around Jacksonville. “In the beginning,” Van Zant reminisced, “we used to play one joint until midnight for kids, then they turned it into a bottle club and we'd go until 6am”.
They were picking up groupies almost as quickly as they were dropping beats.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
22. He Met His First Wife
Sometime in the mid-1960s, Van Zant met Nadine Inscoe. There aren’t many reports about their relationship, but it must have been a love story as wild as Van Zant’s vocal stylings. By January of 1967, the couple had tied the knot and, within a few years, had a baby girl named Tammy.
But Inscoe might not have been very supportive of Van Zant’s musical ambitions.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
23. He Was About To Settle Down
Around the time that he was married to Inscoe, Van Zant seemed to be putting his rock n' roll lifestyle on hold. He was working at his brother-in-law's auto parts store and had, allegedly, committed the parts catalog to memory. But the quiet life of a family man and auto parts dealer was never going to keep Van Zant interested for long.
Neither was Inscoe.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
24. He Had Melody
Van Zant and Inscoe divorced in 1969—curiously, right around the same time that Van Zant met Judy Seymour. “I first met Gary Rossington in 1969,” Seymour recalled. “Then he introduced me to Ronnie”. The rest was history. A few very short years later, Van Zant and Seymour had tied the knot and given birth to a baby girl, Melody.
Everything was rocking and rolling Van Zant’s way.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
25. He Turned Down The Deal Of A Lifetime
All of the late nights playing at dive bars in Jacksonville had finally paid off. By 1970, Van Zant and his Lynyrd Skynyrd bandmates had recorded a demo. Their sound was so powerful that Capricorn Records offered them a deal. But then Van Zant did something no one could believe: He turned it down.
It would be a long road ahead.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
26. He Found His Sound
Van Zant spent the next three years putting in long hours with his bandmates. They performed at dive bars, often traveling hours and hours to go from gig to gig. But, slowly, their sound began to mature, they upgraded their equipment and they became masters of the rhythm of Southern rock. Van Zant, however, never felt like a true Southern rockstar.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
27. He Was A Little British
Even though the content of their lyrics was decidedly and distinctively Southern, Van Zant claimed that the Lynyrd Skynyrd sound was a bit more continental. He said that the band had “modeled” themselves after the British Invasion bands of the 1960s: “If you ask me,” Van Zant claimed, “we're closer to the classic British rock groups like Free than anything else”.
Whatever their style, it was about to pay off. Big time.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
28. He Signed On The Dotted Line
After three long and hard years on the road, Lynyrd Skynyrd had perfected their sound—and someone had taken notice. In 1973 the record label MCA approached Van Zant and his bandmates with a much better record deal. This time, Van Zant couldn’t say no.
Van Zant signed on the dotted line. It made him a rock n' roll legend—and it might have sealed his fate.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
29. He Was A “Free Bird”
Shortly after signing the record deal, the band released their debut album, (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd). The album was an instant hit and included tracks like “Tuesday's Gone”, “Simple Man” and their signature song “Free Bird,” which Van Zant had written the melody and lyrics for in just three minutes.
He had no idea the phenomenon he had started.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
30. He Started A Phenomenon
At once performance, later released on the 1976 live album One More from the Road, Van Zant asked the crowd what they wanted to hear. When the crowd shouted back, “Free Bird,” the band gave the people exactly what they had asked for—and then some.
They broke into a 14-minute long rendition of “Free Bird”, cementing their place in the annals of rock history—but Van Zant's triumph was also something of a curse.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
31. His Fans Always Wanted To Hear His Song
Van Zant’s playful moment with the crowd turned into a kind of meme at concert performances. Decades later, when other rock legends like Nirvana and Bob Dylan asked the crowd what they wanted to hear, the crowd would shout back, “Free Bird” in tribute to Van Zant and his Lynyrd Skynyrd bandmates.
But no one could perform quite like Van Zant.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
32. He Never Wore Shoes
A stage in front of a crowd of music lovers had always felt like home to Van Zant. Or, at least, he always made himself feel at home. Famously, Van Zant never wore shoes on stage while performing. He liked to deliver his rock concerts barefooted. But don’t let the long hair and bare feet confuse you—he was definitely not a hippy.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
33. He Defenestrated A Table
Van Zant had always led a rock n' roll lifestyle. But, after becoming a true Southern rock star, he dialed things up a notch: In 1975, he had a run-in with the law after throwing a table out of a second-story hotel room window. But the truth was that Van Zant was, in fact, almost as famous for his vocals as he was for his temper.
And his bandmates knew it firsthand.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
34. He Punched His Bandmates
Once, Van Zant caught one of his bandmates drinking some vino while they were playing their signature "Free Bird". Ever the taskmaster, Van Zant marched over to his fellow Lynyrd Skynyrd member and decked him one across the mouth. Allegedly, he did the same thing when he spied a bandmate ogling a fan.
Believe it or not, but a punch to the face was Van Zant’s idea of going easy.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
35. He Smashed A Bottle On His Bandmate
Just before a performance in Hamburg, Germany, Van Zant lost his temper with bandmate Gary Rossington. It’s not clear what set the lead vocalist off, but what he did was wild. Van Zant smashed a bottle and “gored” Rossington’s hand before seething, “I’ll do it without you”. It was all just part of the rock n' roll lifestyle.
MCA Records, Wikimedia Commons
36. He Had A Reputation To Upkeep
By the mid-1970s, Van Zant and his bandmates had developed a reputation for being hard drinkers who loved a good fight when they weren’t on stage. And, when they were short on external foes, they simply fought each other and often left their dressing rooms in “shambles”. Their press agent did little, if anything, to cover up their escapades, believing that it added to their “mystique”.
But the rock n’ roll life was taking its toll on Van Zant.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
37. He Was The Very Devil
By 1976, Van Zant had found himself in handcuffs more than a dozen times. Former Lyrnyrd Skynyrd drummer, Artimus Pyle, talked about the emotional rollercoaster that was life with Van Zant. “I loved and respected Ronnie Van Zant,” Pyle said. “But I have seen the man turn into the devil right in front of me and hurt people”.
But even Van Zant was beginning to see the fault in the band’s fast and furious lifestyle.
Carl Lender, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
38. He Had More Hit Songs
Despite their rock n’ roll antics, Van Zant and his bandmates had managed to follow up their debut album with more chart-topping hits like “Sweet Home Alabama”. Between 1974 and 1976, they released four more albums, but for some bandmates, their rocket-like rise to rockstar status was all a little too fast and furious—literally.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
39. His Bandmate Caused An Accident
In 1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd suffered two major setbacks. First, one of the band’s guitarist, Allen Collins, fueled by hooch, crashed his car into another parked vehicle, sending it careening across the parking lot. But it was what Gary Rossington did that nearly broke up the band.
MCA Records, Wikimedia Commons
40. His Bandmates Were Out Of Control
With enough hooch and Ludes in his system to knock out an elephant, Rossington fell asleep at the wheel of his brand new car. As the vehicle sped along, Rossington “knocked down a telephone pole, split an oak tree and did $7,000 worth of damage to a house”. Rossington’s injuries were so bad that the band had to cancel their upcoming tour dates.
But that was nothing compared to what Van Zant was about to do.
Andrew King, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
41. He Fined His Friends
When Zant learned about Collins’ and Rossington’s accidents, he was incensed. Far from nursing his injured bandmates back to health, he fined them each $5,000. “I can’t tell you how mad I got at him for that,” Van Zant said in an interview. “We’re glad he’s gonna make it, he’s tremendously lucky to be alive, but it was his fault”.
He had a funny way of showing that he cared.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
42. He Had The Stench Of Death
In response to Collins’ and Rossington’s wild booze and hypnotic fueled accidents, Van Zant wrote the song titled “That Smell”, in the hopes that it might change his bandmates’ behavior. “There's too much coke and too much smoke/Look what's going on inside you/Ooooh that smell/Can't you smell that smell[…]The smell of death surrounds you”.
What was about to happen next gave those final lyrics a haunting undertone.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
43. He Was Basically Clairvoyant
In 1995, Van Zant’s father, Lacy, gave a chilling recollection of his son. “Ronnie,” he said, while slumping into his La-Z-Boy Recliner, “was the only one of my children who had second sight”. He was referring, rather ominously, to the fact that Van Zant had repeatedly told his friends and family members that he would not live to see his 30th birthday.
He had repeated his grim prediction so many times that his loved ones “had gotten sick of hearing it”. But, as the date drew nearer in late 1977, Van Zant’s predictions became chilling—and eerily accurate.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
44. He Wanted To Go Out Wearing His Boots
At a bar in Tokyo, Van Zant and his Lynyrd Skynyrd bandmate, Artimus Pyle, downed shots of sake. In a state of inebriated clairvoyance, Van Zant proclaimed, “I am never going to live to see 30”. Stunned, Pyle objected but Van Zant was frighteningly calm in his resolve. “No, no,” he said, “I want to go out with my boots on”.
And so he would.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
45. His Final Album Cover Was Ominous
On October 17, 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd released their album Street Survivors and prepared to go on tour. The original cover depicted the band members on a city street with the buildings “engulfed in flames”. Just three days later, the album cover and all of Van Zant’s spine-chilling predictions took on a whole new tragic light.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
46. He Didn’t See The Signs
On October 20, 1977, Van Zant and his bandmates boarded a Convair CV-240 headed to their next concert venue. According to the band’s soundman, Kevin Elson, “We had problems on the plane before that last flight”. They had a mechanic check things out but decided to place their faith in the pilot. “Man,” Elson reminisced, “all the signs were there”.
Signs of doom.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
47. He Was A Mississippi Kid
The months leading up to that fateful October, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s backup singer, Jojo Billingsley noticed something odd about Van Zant. The rock vocalist kept referring to himself as the “Mississippi Kid” despite the fact that he had been born and raised in Florida. Van Zant’s only connection to Mississippi turned out to be a fatal one.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
48. His Career Came Crashing Down
Somewhere outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi, Van Zant’s years of predictions came true. The Convair CV-240 ran out of fuel and the pilot messaged the cabin, telling them to brace for a crash landing. As the plane hurtled towards the ground, they struck a tree, causing Van Zant to hit his head, ending his life and rock n’ roll career in an instant.
He was, as he had predicted, 29 years old—just 87 days shy of his 30th birthday.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
49. His Loss Broke Up The Band
Tragically, Van Zant wasn’t the only member of the band to lose his life in that fateful plane crash. Guitarist and backup vocalist Steve Gaines along with his sister and vocalist Cassie Gaines also perished in the accident. The fortunate band members who managed to survive the crash still sustained severe injuries.
Without their lead vocalist and the heart of their band, Lynyrd Skynyrd parted ways, only coming together again a decade later with Van Zant’s younger brother taking his role.
Tom O'Dell, Gone with the Wind (2015)
50. He Didn’t Want Anyone “Gawking” At Him
Van Zant had a closed casket funeral, fueling speculation that the crash had left his body horribly disfigured or, even worse, decapitated. However, considering the force of the impact, Van Zant was, surprisingly, intact. He only had a bruise the size of a quarter on his temple.
His wife Judy had simply recalled that her late husband hadn’t wanted anyone “gawking” at his remains.
Jimmy Barnes Photography, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
51. He Couldn’t Rest In Peace
Following an emotional funeral that saw attendees “literally falling down” from grief, Van Zant’s loved ones laid him to rest with his beloved fishing pole, wearing his trademark black hat. Unfortunately, in yet another twist to Van Zant’s story, the rock n’ roll legend couldn’t even rest in peace—at least, not for very long.
Cabin Fever, Freebird... The Movie (1996)
52. He Found A Final Resting Place
In late June of 2000, vandals broke into Van Zant’s tomb and exhumed his body, forcing his relatives to relocate his remains. Unfortunately, Gaines’ relatives accidentally revealed Van Zant’s new resting place in a Craigslist ad, forcing his family to, once again, find a new place for the rock legend to roll peacefully, at last, into the hereafter.
Pairko, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
53. He Didn't Like Being Told What To Do
Van Zant sometimes performed wearing a shirt that said, "Who the **** are the Rolling Stones Anyway?" The beef goes back to when Lynyrd Skynyrd opened for the Rolling Stones. Beforehand, Jagger told the band that the ONE thing they couldn't do was go out on the iconic Rolling Stones tongue.
Van Zant, not one to be told what to do, ushered his bandmates out onto the tongue for "Free Bird" in the middle of their set. They ended up going long, too. Needless to say, they never performed with Jagger or the Stones ever again.
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