Skynyrds' Ynyrds Trivia Quiz

Answer: Leonard Skinner

All the vowels were changed to protect the guilty! Ronnie and Gary eventually grew tired of the suspensions, verbal abuse, and threats and left school!

Answer: One Percent

According to Ronnie, only one percent of musicians make a living in the music business and he planned to be one of them; hence the name! "Street Survivors" was the last album released before the plane crash that killed Ronnie, Cassie, Steve, and Dean.

The King James Version was the band Leon Wilkeson quit to join Lynyrd Skynyrd, and The Whiskey Band is my old southern rock tribute band that played in NJ-NY-Ct.-Pa.!

Answer: Steven

Keyport, NJ's own "Little" Steven Van Zandt [note the spelling], best known as Bruce Springsteen's guitar-playing "gypsy"-garbed sideman with the E-Street band and the actor that portrays the skeevy capo Silvio on "The Sopranos", is no relation. Oldest brother Ronnie was, of course, the founder and leader of Lynyrd Skynyrd; singer/songwriter Donnie, the middle brother, is the founder and front-man of .38 Special; and youngest brother Johnny is the singer/songwriter for the Johnny Van Zant band and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Answer: Bob Burns, Larry Jungstrom, and Billy Powell

On the night in 1970 that One Percent was introduced by Ronnie Van Zant as Leonard Skinner, Ronnie was the lead vocalist, Gary and Allen were the guitarists, Bob Burns was the drummer, Billy Powell played keyboards, and Larry Jungstom was the bassist!

Answer: Leon Wilkeson

Leon had previously played with Donnie Van Zant's band The Collegiates, and was the next door neighbor of the Van Zants' sister Betty Jo Ann! After Ronnie got Leon to join Lynyrd Skynyrd, his mother and sisters convinced him that he needed to finish school and find a career outside of music; Leon himself had doubts that he was too young to live the life of a professional musician.

While Wilkeson was finding himself, guitarist Ed King replaced him on bass when Lynyrd Skynyrd was on the road and King, Jungstrom, and Greg T. Walker [of Blackfoot] filled in on bass during recording sessions at Muscle Shoals Studios.

When Leon returned to the band, Ed King went back to being part of the three lead guitar line-up. The late Tommy Caldwell was a founding member and bassist for the Marshall Tucker Band.

Answer: False

Even though Leon made it into the band, he felt he was too young and not ready for fame, so he quit right before the band was ready to record its first album, "Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd" [1973]. Ed King, a well-respected guitarist and song-writer with the Strawberry Alarm Clock ["Incense and Peppermint"]was recruited to play bass by Ronnie. Leon worked with Ed to teach him the bass licks and then went to work at Farm Best Dairy Products while Ed played bass on the band's first album! Ed, who hated playing bass and wasn't very good at it, asked Ronnie to let him play guitar, so Ronnie asked Leon to come back, which he did in a heartbeat! Greg T. Walker [Blackfoot] shares bass credits with Leon and Ed on the album "Lynyrd Skynyrd's First and Last" [1978], a collection of early Muscle Shoals demos recorded around 1970.

Answer: False

As of 2001, Johnny and Donnie Van Zant have recorded two albums together: "Brother To Brother" [1998] and "Van Zant II" [2001]!

Answer: Billy Powell

Billy Powell was One Percent's roadie while playing with Donnie Van Zant and Don Barnes [.38 Special] in their band Alice Marr. A friend talked Billy into playing his piano rendition of "Free Bird" for Ronnie, Allen, and Gary, and Ronnie immediately asked Billy to join the band.

A classically trained music major, Billy took a lot of heat from Ronnie about his education but worked hard to find a playing style that would blend with the guitar-oriented music. Dean Kilpatrick was a One Percent roadie who went on to be the band's tour manager, eventually dying in the plane crash. Rickey Medlocke once offered to roadie for the band but instead played Muscle Shoals' session-work drums for them. Steve Gaines was a guitarist!

Answer: Artimus Pyle

Artimus Pyle joined Lynyrd Skynyrd without auditioning on the recommendations of the Marshall Tucker Band and Charlie Daniels while the band was on tour and prior to the recording of "Nuthin'Fancy"! Rickey Medlocke [Blackfoot] played drums and sang some lead vocals on their Muscle Shoals demo sessions [that later became the album "Lynyrd Skynyrd's First and Last"] when Bob Burns wasn't available and toured for a short time as a drummer and guitarist(along with Bob) for the band but was never Burns' replacement. Monte Yoho was a drummer for the Outlaws, The Henry Paul Band, and has done work for Blackhawk. Derek Hess has done fill work for various southern rock acts and replaced Artimus in the Rossington-Collins Band!

Answer: Steve Gaines

Steve Gaines was recommended to Lynyrd Skynrd by his sister Cassie, a member of the Honkettes, the Lynyrd Skynyrd female back-up singers. He did his audition live, on-stage, playing lead and slide on "T For Texas". Within a month, he joined the band permanently! Rickey Medlocke plays guitar for the current version of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Barry Harwood and Randall Hall have played guitar with various Lynyrd Skynyrd-member fronted projects and Hall toured with Lynyrd Skynyrd for a short time.

Answer: Rossington-Collins Band

The boys did not want another male lead vocalist and recruited Dale Krantz (later Rossington), a Joplinesque back-up singer for .38 Special to front the band, which released two albums: "Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere" [1980], which featured a drawing of a flaming phoenix on the cover; and "This Is The Way" [1981]. Alias was a project that Billy Powell and Leon Wilkeson did studio work for and released one album, "Contraband" [1979]. A.P.B. is Artemis Pyle's band with two albums released: "A.P.B." [1982] and "Nightcrawler" [1983].

Answer: Johnny Van Zant

Ronnie had always said that his talented youngest brother Johnny would one day take over the lead vocals duties and that he would just sit back, manage, produce, and write songs ala Buddy Buie. He also predicted that he would never live to see 30! Middle brother Donnie is a singer-songwriter with .38 Special, Dale Krantz-Rossington is a back-up singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Ronnie Hammond was the lead vocalist for the Atlanta Rhythm Section!

Answer: the Outlaws

The founding member of the Florida Guitar Army, Hughie was a perennial "Fender All-Stars" choice and gave us such FM radio classics as "Green Grass and High Tides Forever", "There Goes Another Love Song", and "Hurry Sundown", to name just a very few.

Answer: Merry Clayton

Merry Clayton was a member of the Sweet Inspirations female vocal group and, along with Clydie King [also of that group], sang the back-up vocals on the original studio version of "Sweet Home Alabama" from the album "Second Helping" [1974]!

Answer: Lynyrd Skynyrd

The survivors: Gary Rossington [guitar], Billy Powell [keyboards], Leslie Hawkins [vocals], JoJo Billingsley [vocals], Artimus Pyle [drums]; the Lynyrd Skynyrd road crew of James Brace, Ron Eckerman, Kevin Elson, Mark Frank, Mark Howard, Clayton Johnson, Don Kretzschman, Steve lawler, Craig Reed, Paul Welch, and Bill Sykes [t.v. crew]! Allen Collins [guitar] survived only to die too young on Jan. 23, 1990! Leon Wilkeson [bass] survived, only to die too young on July 27, 2001! Fly Free Bird!