The Tragic Real Life Story Of Lynyrd Skynyrd

Legendary Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd have traveled a road that's been anything but smooth. They've weathered more tragedy than many groups, and through it all, they've made some truly epic music. Their albums are classics of the genre, with songs like "Sweet Home Alabama", "Free Bird", and many more. Here's the tragic, real-life story of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Fans of Lynyrd Skynyrd know that drummer Artimus Pyle survived the horrific plane crash that claimed the lives of other group members, but might not realize aviation was a passion he shared with his father, a retired Marine awarded a Purple Heart for injuries sustained while fighting in the South Pacific during World War II.

Artimus Pyle followed in his father's footsteps. He enlisted in the Marines and hoped to pursue a career in civil aviation after the service. He even took flying lessons in the Marines, and his father, then a civilian, did as well.

But tragedy followed, when Del Pyle was offed in a midair plane crash over Albuquerque in 1971. In an interview with radio personality Eddie Winters, Artimus recalled how his father had been hit from above and behind by a B-57 weather reconnaissance bomber.

"Dad was in his Cessna 150 flying over some property that he was going to build houses on. He liked to do that; he liked to look at pieces of property from the air… He was offed instantly. That kept me from really losing my mind, because Dad never suffered. He was doing what he loved and then he was gone."

A lengthy feature story in Spin magazine back in April 1999 detailed the tough road Lynyrd Skynyrd took to achieving their dreams as a band, as well as the rough ways bandmates treated one another all along the way, often resorting to violence to address their issues. The violent tendencies started before anyone knew who the band was, and it didn't stop when the fame came. There were stories of fighting in public and in private, of going on stage with bruises, bandages, and missing teeth.

Introducing seemingly endless tours and a stable supply of drugs and alcohol into the proceedings didn't help. Take the story of a bar fight in Munich. It sprawled across the city and followed the band back to the hotel, where singer Ronnie Van Zant broke a bottle over the head of a Skynyrd roadie and used the shards to slice up guitarist Gary Rossington's hands. The show went on, though. Rossington played the next night with bandaged hands, as did Van Zant, who broke some bones punching someone, somewhere along the way. And that's just one incident in the history of the strange and volatile rock 'n' roll family.

Watch the video for more on the tragic real life story of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

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Artimus Pyle's family tragedy | 0:20
Behind-the-scenes violence | 1:21
Drugs and car crashes inspire 'That Smell' | 2:22
The plane crash | 3:24
Allen Collins' tragedies and untimely death | 4:43
Leon Wilkeson holds on | 6:11
Skynyrd's 'outlaw' Hughie Thomasson dies | 7:11
Billy Powell's 'Gifted Hands' are stilled | 8:07
Gary Rossington's heart fails him | 9:04

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