UPDATE Lynyrd Skynyrd to play at Florida Strawberry Fest despite passing of band member.
The Florida native has cheated death multiple times, according to the Associated Press. Officials have not released a cause of death for the guitarist and songwriter.
“Our Festival has lost a great friend, entertainer, and music icon,” said Florida Strawberry Festival President Paul Davis. “Our hearts go out to his entire family, all his fans and to the thousands of people whose lives he has enriched. We know we will have a special guest and guardian angel watching over this performance.”
The Lynyrd Skynyrd concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on the Wish Farms Soundstage. Tickets are still available for the show.
With the tragic passing of Gary Rossington, Lynyrd Skynyrds’ guitarist, and songwriter, the question looms on whether or not the band will still perform at the Florida Strawberry Festival.
The band was set to take the stage exactly one week from today.
On Sunday, the band confirmed on their Facebook page that Rossington, who was the last surviving original member of the Jacksonville rock band, died at the age of 71.
“It is with our deepest sympathy and sadness that we have to advise, that we lost our brother, friend, family member, songwriter and guitarist, Gary Rossington, today,” the band wrote. “Gary is now with his Skynyrd brothers and family in heaven and playing it pretty, like he always does.”
While Lynyrd Skynyrd was scheduled to perform several tour stops alongside ZZ Top for “The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour,” the band was also set to perform on the final day of the Florida Strawberry Festival.
The band was announced as a headliner for the festival back in November 2022.
As of this report, neither Lynyrd Skynyrd nor the Florida Strawberry Festival has made an announcement regarding the band’s performance on March 12.
According to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s website, Rossington helped formed the band in the 1960s with Ronnie Van Zant and Bob Burns, who met while playing on opposing baseball teams in Jacksonville, Florida as teenagers