Lynyrd Skynyrd founder dies in crash
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Having fun … a 2006 photo shows (from left) Billy Powell, Bob Burns and Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York. Picture: AFP/ Timothy A Clary
Source: AFP
THE former drummer and a founding member of the US southern hard rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, Robert Burns Jr, died late Friday in a single-vehicle crash, police and his father said.
Burns’ vehicle went off a road just before midnight as it approached a curve near Cartersville, Georgia, striking a mailbox and a tree, State Patrol spokeswoman Tracey Watson said.
Burns, 64, was killed in the wreck. He was not wearing a seatbelt.
The single-vehicle accident remains under investigation, and Ms Watson said further details were not immediately available.
Well, today I’m at a loss for words, but I just remember Bob being a funny guy. He was just so funny, he used to do…
Posted by Lynyrd Skynyrd on Saturday, April 4, 2015
Burns was one of five musicians who founded the band in Jacksonville, Florida. While Burns was with the group, it recorded Sweet Home Alabama, Gimme Three Steps, and Free Bird. He left the group in 1974.
He continued to play for fun or in guest appearances nationally, said his father, Robert Burns Sr. Early on, the group played in the Burns’ family garage.
“He was a product of his mother, so far as manners is concerned,” Mr Burns said. “He had the manners that would suit the King of England. Very soft-spoken and extremely well-mannered person to come out of that kind of industry.”
