Ron Onesti: The curse, and the legacy, of Lynyrd Skynyrd

Original Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Robert Burns Jr. was killed in an automobile crash April 3. He was not wearing his seat belt.

In 2009, keyboardist Billy Powell died of a heart attack at age 56. In 1980, founding member and guitarist Allen Collins' wife died during a miscarriage. Collins and rhythm guitarist and founding member Gary Rossington almost lost their lives in a serious car accident in 1976. And in 1977, at the height of its success, the band lost six people in a fatal plane crash, including founding member and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant.

Yet, iconic Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band and southern rock superstars Lynyrd Skynyrd continues to rock on as the "Free Birds" they have always been.

It all began for me Aug. 15, 1976, at Hawthorne Racecourse in Cicero. It was one of those outdoor rock extravaganza. I was 14 years old and it was my first concert experience. The four bands on the bill? YES, Peter Frampton (celebrating one of the biggest albums in history, "Frampton Comes Alive"), Gary Wright (Dream Weaver) and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

What I remember most about that show, aside from Frampton's "Talk Box" effect on "Do You Feel Like We Do" (that blew the crowd away), was Skynyrd's extended live version of the band's 1973 power-ballad smash "Free Bird." That song seemed to unite the thousands in attendance in a way I still have yet to see another song do. After that experience, I was a confirmed rock fan and Skynyrd fanatic.

I think the thing that gives me the chills about the band the most was the whole album-cover thing. On Oct. 20, 1977, the band was in a fatal plane crash that killed six and seriously injured the rest of the members and road crew. The creepy thing was the band's new album, Street Survivors, was released just three days before. The album cover was nothing but a picture of the band standing in a field, engulfed in flames, almost as an eerie premonition of the tragedy that was to come a few days later. Out of respect to the band, the record company removed the flames and reissued the album.

I recently did a show with Artimus Pyle, the Skynyrd drummer who took over for Burns in 1974. He was also on the plane that crashed with other band members. He was one of the band members who walked away, bloodied and broken-boned.

"My father had died in a plane crash, so it really affected me that much more," Pyle said. "Ronnie was a father figure to the entire band; it was a true family. His leadership is what the band needed most, and it was gone in an instant. We all grabbed each other as the plane went down, all we saw were trees, and it happened so fast. After the crash, those of us who could move, walked to a nearby farmhouse looking for help. Instead of opening their doors, the people there pulled shotguns on us thinking we were there to rob them. We were bleeding with our arms practically hanging off our bodies! It took the police, who arrived a bit later, to convince the residents of the farmhouse we were in serious trouble, and to put their guns away."

It all came full circle for me in October of 2013, 27 years later. I produced a massive outdoor concert in Elgin with John Kay of Steppenwolf and … Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Now I have been producing concerts for more than 25 years with some of the biggest names in music. But when the multiple tour busses rolled in, I was the giddiest schoolgirl in the park. As I watched the band, and joined the crowd during another iconic Southern-Rock staple, "Sweet Home Alabama," I thought of the band's tumultuous history: the fact that the band was named for a high school teacher named Leonard Skinner who was adamantly against long hair on boys; the band being propelled to stardom by opening for The Who during the band's "Quadrophenia" tour; the tragedies, their hits, their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006; and the realization that they were on stage in front me, performing in one of MY shows!

Then the finale came. The band left the stage for a moment. One by one they reverently walked back on stage. The all-too-familiar guitar riff that begins "Free Bird" brought everyone to their feet. Then current Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer and younger brother of the immortal Ronnie Van Zant, Johnny Van Zant (who is a scary spitting-image of his older brother), brought the crowd to tears as he brought out with him a microphone stand with a confederate-flag scarf tied to it, and his brother Ronnie's rock-rebel top hat on top of the microphone.

During the slow, melodic opening of the beloved song, Johnny slowly raised the mike stand to the heavens, in tribute to his brother and the other members of the band who passed away. The amount of tears was only surpassed with the number of "goose bumps" in the audience.

Then, it almost seemed as if he broke up a bit as he sang the opening, "If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?"

Yes Ronnie, we still remember you all, and always will.

• Ron Onesti is president and CEO of The Onesti Entertainment Corp. and The Historic Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. Celebrity questions and comments? Email ron@oshows.com.