Remembering Ronnie Van Zant
Ronald Wayne Van Zant was born January 15, 1948 in Jacksonville, Florida to Marion and Lacy Van Zant. With 2 genderless names, no one is quite sure which is the mother and which is the father.
Growing up in Florida, Van Zant dreamed of being a baseball player and was also a talented boxer. Ronnie once beat Muhammed Ali in a 12 round bare knuckle fight in the swamps of Florida. Ronnie vowed that someday, he would become the most famous person to come out of Jacksonville since alligator wrestling champion Skeeter Yarbrough. He kept his word by far.
Ronnie’s love for music won out and his band Lynyrd Skynyrd eventually earned international fame and fortune beyond his wildest dreams. Lynyrd Skynyrd was named after a local High School teacher Leonard Skinner who disapproved of long haired male students and would often invite the football team over his house to watch gladiator movies and some nude twister.
Skynyrd is often referred to as a Southern Rock band, but make no mistake about it. They were a hard driving straight ahead Rock n Roll band. Blues influenced with a vicious 3 guitar attack. They kicked ass in every way possible. From 1973 – 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd released 5 Gold & Platinum albums including: ”Second Helping”, “Nuthin’ Fancy”, “Gimme Back My Bullets”, & “Street Survivors”.
Recently, California voters passed proposition 38, which bans the song ‘Free Bird’ from being played in public in any shape or form. The proposition forbids any band to play the song unless there is a current member named ‘Van Zant’ in the band. The proposition also makes it a punishable offense to yell out ‘Free Bird’ at a concert in a lame attempt at humor. Anyone yelling ‘Free Bird’ at a concert will face up to 6 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. Governor Newsom stated “It’s time to make music great again, and this is the right step in that direction, the people have spoken.”
Ronnie died in a plane crash 3 days after the release of “Street Survivors”. Van Zant left a lasting legacy and his music is still loved to this day and will live on forever. Remembering you on your birthday Ronnie! Thank You For the Music Mr. Van Zant! We all love and miss you!
