Cassie Gaines

Cassie Gaines, backing singer best known for her work with Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Gaines was killed in a plane crash on 20th October 1977 with two other members of the band. Cassie Gaines would have celebrated her 74th birthday today, the 5th July.

Biography

Gaines was invited by JoJo Billingsley and Ronnie Van Zant to join Lynyrd Skynyrd as a backup singer. She had never heard of the band at the time, so Billingsley lent her a copy of the band’s first two albums: Lynyrd Skynyrd and Second Helping. In late 1975, Gaines, Billingsley, and Leslie Hawkins formed The Honkettes, a female gospel vocal trio for Skynyrd.^[1]

When Lynyrd Skynyrd was in need of a guitar player to replace recently departed Ed King, Cassie recommended her younger brother, Steve, who joined the band soon after.

Plane Crash

On October 20, 1977, a Convair CV-240 carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd between shows from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana crashed outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. The crash killed Ronnie Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, as well as pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray.^[2] Gaines had initially refused to board the flight and was convinced by other members against her better judgment.^[3] Her hesitation was due to a small fire on one of the engines the previous day. She intended to travel in the tour trucks but boarded the flight due to Van Zant’s persuasion.^[4]

Gaines survived the initial accident but bled to death while rescuers attempted to reach the accident site and remove victims for medical treatment.^[5] According to controversial claims by survivor Billy Powell, Gaines bled to death after the accident in Powell’s arms from deep lacerations.^[6]

Burial

Cassie and Steve Gaines were buried in Orange Park, Florida.

On February 15, 1979, the mother of Steve and Cassie, also named Cassie LaRue Gaines, was killed in an automobile accident near the cemetery where Steve and Cassie are buried. She was buried near her children.

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Rise & Shine Show – (06:00-08:00 +4GMT – Mauritian Time) 22-07-05

For those of our audience who joined us in this morning’s show, you will recall that In memory of Cassie Gaines we played Freebird from Lynyrd Skynyrd and 3 other songs with the word “Angel” in the title:

1. Jimi Hendrix – Angel (Buy)
2. Steve Earle – Angel Is The Devil (Buy)
3. Steve Winwood – Help Me Angel (Buy)

Song: Freebird from Lynyrd Skynyrd

Video

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Freebird – 7/2/1977 – Recorded Live: 7/2/1977 – Oakland Coliseum Stadium – Oakland, CA

Personnel:

Ronnie Van Zant – vocals
Allen Collins – guitar
Gary Rossington – guitar
Steve Gaines – guitar
Artimus Pyle – drums
Leon Wilkeson – bass
Billy Powell – piano
Cassie Gaines – vocals
Jo Billingsley – vocals
Leslie Hawkins – vocals

Summary:

Just three and a half months before the fateful plane crash that killed Skynyrd members Steve Gaines, his sister, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines (of the Honkettes), and lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zandt, Lynyrd Skynyrd played this 4th of July weekend program in Oakland.

While this is only a partial recording of the show, two of the three songs are probably the ones you would skip to anyway: “Sweet Home Alabama” and the legendary closing track that has inspired legions of concert-going yokels to make millions of ironic requests over the years, “Free Bird.” The first track is an excerpt of a standard Skynyrd live show cover, Jimmie Rodgers’ “T for Texas” The guys take six minutes to stretch their legs on this version of “Sweet Home Alabama.” The song had been released three years prior as a response song to the Neil Young numbers “Southern Man” and “Alabama,” which were both critical of southern politics. Ironically, by some reports, Van Zant was wearing a Neil Young t-shirt at the time of this performance.

The show is closed with “Free Bird,” which by many fans’ estimations is only rivaled by Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” as the most epic closing song in rock history. Allen Collins handles most of the five-minute solo, while Gary Rossington plays the “bird-chirp” guitar parts, which are not on the original recording, as well as the slide work on the opening riffs. Billy Powell also plays a masterful piano solo that is unique to the live show.

While Lynyrd Skynyrd would release the multi-platinum Street Survivors in October of 1977, the band’s structure would be fundamentally devastated by the crash of their private Convair 240 that took the lives of three members, as well as the pilots and assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, and terribly injured every other member, except for Honkette, JoJo Billingsley, who was at home with her children and had reportedly begged the band to quit using the plane after dreaming of such a crash.

From the ashes of this Skynyrd incarnation, Van Zant’s younger brother, Johnny, stepped in and made Lynyrd Skynyrd a popular band once more when they reformed in 1987. Lynyrd Skynyrd is planning to release an unearthed recording of pre-plane crash Skynyrd in 2009.

Video Of The Most Requested Song

Most Requested Song from Freebird from Lynyrd Skynyrd of 70s Rock was Hated by Label & ALMOST Didn’t Get Released!

‘It began as an innocent remark precipitated from a lover’s quarrel, that progressed into an anthem for freedom. The legacy of Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd the 70s classic, the greatness of the creation from Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, Al Cooper’. It began as an innocent remark that came from a lover’s quarrel, it turned into a legendary song that has likely been requested at every Live Rock show ever since. At first the singer didn’t think it was anything special, then one night he laid on his back in the corner of the studio and wrote it in a few minutes. At on point it was 17 minutes long. Once recorded the label hated it. They tried to stop it form being put on the album. Eventually this classic rock standard progressed into an anthem for freedom. Check out the video below, The legacy of one of the signature songs by a blessed… and a cursed Hall of Fame band from Florida….

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