Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Where was Ronnie Van Zant born?
He was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, to Lacy Austin (1915–2004) and Marion Virginia (Hicks) Van Zant (1929–2000). Ronnie aspired to be many things before finding his love for music. Idolising boxer Muhammad Ali, he considered a career in the ring, and while playing American Legion baseball dreamed of Minor League success.[2] Referring to a local NASCAR legend, he would say that he was going to be the most famous person to come out of Jacksonville since stock car champion Lee Roy Yarbrough.
Ronald Wayne Van Zant (January 15, 1948 – October 20, 1977) was an American lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and founding member of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was the older brother of two other rock vocalists: current Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist Johnny Van Zant, and Donnie Van Zant, the founder and vocalist of 38 Special. He was the father of Tammy Van Zant and Melody Van Zant.[1]
On October 20, 1977, a plane carrying the band between shows from Greenville, South Carolina, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, ran out of fuel outside Gillsburg, Mississippi. The passengers had been informed about potential problems with the Convair CV-240 and were told to brace for a crash.[5] Van Zant died on impact from head injuries suffered after the aircraft struck a tree. Bandmates Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines, along with assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray, were also killed. The rest of the band was seriously injured.[6] Van Zant was 29 years old.
Southern by the Grace of God is a live album by southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, this live concert was a tribute by Lynyrd Skynyrd to the members of the band who had died in the 1977 plane crash. The plane crash killed frontman Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines and road manager Dean Kilpatrick. This is the first album produced by the band after the '77 plane crash. The band's lineup was re-worked into a second-generation Skynyrd. The changes include: Johnny Van Zant, younger brother of Ronnie Van Zant, taking over on vocals, Ed King, who departed the band during a 1975 tour and Randall Hall, who replaced the paralyzed Allen Collins. The three (King, Hall along with founding member Gary Rossington) re-form the famous triple-lead guitar attack of the original band. New background vocalists Carol Bristow and Dale Krantz-Rossington were added to take the place of the original Honkettes.
The Ronnie Van Zant Memorial Park is a public memorial park located in Lake Asbury, Clay County, Florida. The park was built in memory of Ronnie Van Zant, vocalist of Southern rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, who died along with numerous other band members and crew in a 1977 plane crash. The park was funded by fans and family of the band, and features a number of facilities including tennis courts, fishing ponds, a disc golf course and picnic areas, among other amenities.
"That Smell" is a song by the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Written by Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Allen Collins, it was released in 1977 on the album "Street Survivors". At the time the song was written, the band had been drinking and doing many different drugs. Van Zant had said that he started drinking heavily to relieve the pressure of performing in front of large audiences.
Johnny Roy Van Zant (born February 27, 1960) is an American musician and the current lead vocalist of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He is the younger brother of the late Lynyrd Skynyrd co-founder and former lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, and of the 38 Special founder Donnie Van Zant.
Van Zant married Nadine Inscoe on January 2, 1967. Around this time, Van Zant also worked at his brother-in-law's auto parts store, Morris Auto Parts in Jacksonville. It was said that Van Zant was a virtual catalog of automotive parts, he had a near photographic memory for them. The couple had a daughter named Tammy, before divorcing in 1969; Tammy would become a musician. He married Judy Seymour in 1972 after meeting her at The Comic Book Club through Gary Rossington in 1969.[2] (The club closed in 1975 and is now a parking garage.)[12] They remained married up until his death in 1977. They had one daughter, Melody, born in 1976. Judy Van Zant-Jenness founded the Freebird Live in 1999, a music venue located in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. It features Lynyrd Skynyrd memorabilia and is co-owned by Melody Van Zant. She married Jim Jenness and founded and ran The Freebird Foundation until its dissolution in 2001.
Van Zant's younger brother, Johnny, took over as the new lead singer when the band reunited in 1987.
Van Zant was an avid fisherman. He enjoyed baseball, and was a fan of the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees. As a child, he played American Legion baseball and aspired for AA league baseball, as he recalled in a 1975 interview.[2]
1977's "Street Survivors" turned out to be a showcase for guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, who had joined the band just a year earlier and was making his studio debut with them. Publicly and privately, Ronnie Van Zant marveled at the multiple talents of Skynyrd's newest member, claiming that the band would "all be in his shadow one day". Gaines' contributions included his co-lead vocal with Van Zant on the co-written "You Got That Right" and the rousing guitar boogie "I Know a Little", which he had written before he joined Skynyrd. So confident was Skynyrd's leader of Gaines' abilities that the album (and some concerts) featured Gaines delivering his self-penned bluesy "Ain't No Good Life" – the only song in the pre-crash Skynyrd catalog to feature a lead vocalist other than Ronnie Van Zant. The album also included the hit singles "What's Your Name" and "That Smell". The band was poised for their biggest tour yet, with shows always highlighted by the iconic rock anthem "Free Bird". In November, the band was scheduled to fulfill Van Zant's lifelong dream of headlining New York's Madison Square Garden.
Charles E. Van Zant (born November 24, 1943) is an American architect and Southern Baptist minister who served as a Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives. From 2012 to 2018, Van Zant represented the 19th District, which includes Bradford County, Putnam County, Union County, and southern Clay County. Van Zant previously represented the 21st District from 2008 to 2012.
According to a "New York Times" article, Lacy Van Zant, patriarch of the Van Zant family, once went to West Jacksonville's Robert E. Lee High School to plead Rossington's case to school administrators after the fatherless Rossington was suspended for having long hair. Lacy Van Zant explained to the assistant principal that Rossington's father, who died shortly after Rossington was born, had died in the Army and that Rossington's mother needed the money Rossington made playing in his band. Lacy Van Zant further explained that, like his own sons, they were working men and long hair was part of the job. It's not known if the elder Van Zant's efforts were successful, but Rossington later dropped out of high school to focus on Lynyrd Skynyrd full time.
Junstrom was the bass guitarist of Lynyrd Skynyrd from its formation in 1964, until being replaced by Leon Wilkeson in 1971. Donnie Van Zant, the younger brother of the Lynyrd Skynyrd leader, Ronnie Van Zant, formed .38 Special in 1974, with Junstrom joining as the bass guitarist in 1977.
The Ronnie Van Zant Memorial Park, funded by fans and family of the band, was built on Sandridge Road in Lake Asbury, Florida, nearby his hometown of Jacksonville.
Ex-Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Ed King recalls the intense sadness of Van Zant's funeral, noting that people in attendance were so overcome with grief that they were literally falling down.[8] Van Zant was buried in Orange Park, Florida, in 1977. His body was relocated after vandals broke into his tomb and that of bandmate Steve Gaines on June 29, 2000. Van Zant's casket was pulled out and dropped on the ground. The bag containing Gaines' remains was torn open and some scattered onto the grass.[10] Their mausoleums at Orange Park remain as memorials for fans to visit.
On February 5, 2005, Lynyrd Skynyrd did a Super Bowl party in Jacksonville with special guests 3 Doors Down, Jo Dee Messina, Charlie Daniels and Ronnie and Johnny Van Zant's brother Donnie Van Zant of 38 Special. On February 13 of that year Lynyrd Skynyrd did a tribute to Southern Rock on the Grammy Awards with Gretchen Wilson, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban and Dickey Betts. In the summer of 2005, lead singer Johnny Van Zant had to have surgery on his vocal cord to have a polyp removed. He was told not to sing for three months. On September 10, 2005, Lynyrd Skynyrd performed without Johnny Van Zant at the Music Relief Concert for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, with Kid Rock standing in for Johnny. In December 2005, Johnny Van Zant returned to sing for Lynyrd Skynyrd. The band performed live at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, as a part of their 2007 tour. The concert was recorded in high definition for HDNet and premiered on December 1, 2007.
Mark "Sparky" Matejka, formerly of the country music band Hot Apple Pie, joined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 2006 as Thomasson's replacement. On November 2, 2007, the band performed for a crowd of 50,000 people at the University of Florida's Gator Growl student-run pep rally in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium ("The Swamp" football stadium). This was the largest crowd that Lynyrd Skynyrd had played to in the U.S., until the July 2008 Bama Jam in Enterprise, Alabama where more than 111,000 people attended.
Several members of his family have memorialized Ronnie in their music. His brothers Johnny and Donnie co-wrote the title track of John's 1990 album "Brickyard Road"[15] with family friend and album producer Robert White Johnson. In the reformed Lynyrd Skynyrd's music video for the posthumously-released track "What's Your Name" closes with a white hat similar to Ronnie's sitting atop a microphone. Ronnie's daughter Tammy, who was only 10 years old when he died, dedicated the album title track, "Freebird Child" as well as the music video to her father in 2009.[16] Jimmie Van Zant recorded the tribute track "Ronnie's Song" on the album Southern Comfort (2000).[17]
According to former bandmate Artimus Pyle and family members, Van Zant frequently discussed his mortality. Pyle recalls a moment when Lynyrd Skynyrd was in Japan: "Ronnie and I were in Tokyo, Japan, and Ronnie told me that he would never live to see thirty and that he would go out with his boots on, in other words, on the road. I said, 'Ronnie, don't talk like that,' but the man knew his destiny."[7] Van Zant's father, Lacy, said, "He said to me many times, 'Daddy, I'll never be 30 years old.' I said, 'Why are you talking this junk?' and he said, 'Daddy, that's my limit.'" Van Zant's father later noted that, "God was a jealous god. Taking him for reasons I don't know."[7] Ex-bandmate Ed King also reported hearing Van Zant saying he would never live to be 30 years old, saying Van Zant said it so often that he "had gotten sick of hearing it".[8] Lynyrd Skynyrd backup singer JoJo Billingsley recalled that Van Zant had begun referring to himself as "The Mississippi Kid" in the months before his death despite being born and raised in Florida. She noted that, eerily, Van Zant's only connection to Mississippi was the fact that he would ultimately die there.[9]
Donald Newton "Donnie" Van Zant (born June 11, 1952, in Jacksonville, Florida) is an American rock vocalist/guitarist. He is best known for being a member of the band 38 Special, from its formation in 1974 until 2013. He is the middle of three sons of a truck driver. Older brother Ronnie was the original lead singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd; who died in a plane crash in Mississippi. Younger brother Johnny has been the lead singer for Lynyrd Skynyrd since 1987; the two also perform together from time to time as the group Van Zant.
Van Zant was born in Jacksonville and attended Stetson University before graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in architecture in 1968. Upon graduation, he founded Van Zant Associates, an architecture firm, which he continues to own. Van Zant attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received a Master of Divinity degree, and the Western Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received a Doctorate of Theology degree. In addition to working as an architect, he has served as the pastor of multiple churches, included the First Baptist Church of Keystone Heights and Trinity Baptist Church. Van Zant was appointed to the Clay County School Board in 2007 by Governor Charlie Crist, and served as its Vice-Chairman.
The song is memorable for its lyrics and simple blues guitar riff. The song is sung by Ronnie Van Zant, about a man begging the bank for money to bury his father. Despite misconceptions, the song is not about Van Zant's father, Lacy Van Zant.
Alt country band Drive-By Truckers also paid tribute to Ronnie and members of the original band on their Southern Rock Opera album.
In Jacksonville, Florida during the summer of 1964, Ronnie Van Zant, Bob Burns, and Gary Rossington became acquainted while playing on rival baseball teams and decided to jam together one afternoon after Burns was injured by a ball hit by Van Zant. The trio set up their equipment in the carport of Burns' parents' house and played The Rolling Stones' then-current hit "Time Is on My Side". Liking what they heard, they immediately decided to form a band. They soon approached guitarist Allen Collins, though Collins initially fled on his bicycle and hid in a tree at the sight of Van Zant pulling into his driveway. Collins was soon convinced that Van Zant meant him no harm and he agreed to join the fledgling band. Bassist Larry Junstrom soon rounded out the lineup and the band settled on the name My Backyard, later changed to The Noble Five before becoming The One Percent by 1968. 
The song features Ronnie Van Zant singing about how he is a troublemaker. Lyrics include "Double Trouble, is what my friends all call me". According to the book "Whiskey Bottles and Brand New Cars: The Fast Life and Sudden Death of Lynyrd Skynyrd" by Mark Ribowsky, the genesis for the song came from a time when Gary Rossington was in jail with Ronnie Van Zant and he asked him how many times he had been arrested, to which Van Zant replied eleven times. Rossington replied, "Man, you're double trouble". Also, according to Ribowsky, the band originally recorded under a record label called "Double T Productions" which stood for "Double Trouble". The song also features backup vocals from The Honkettes.