Plane Crashes, Death and Paralysis: The tragic history of Allen Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd
Rock and roll has never been known as the safest job known to man. For every artist that has made it to the other side of their 40s, chances are they have a few tales of survival that they are still working through for their success. While Lynyrd Skynyrd was stricken with tragedy in the middle of their prime, Allen Collins had a dark cloud following him for the rest of his days after the 1970s.
At the beginning of his career, you’d swear that Collins lucked into the chance of a lifetime when joining the Southern rock icons. Working with them on their debut (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd), Collins’ approach to the guitar was just what the band needed, having a hotshot guitarist to balance out the sound of both Ed King and Gary Rossington.
Compared to other artists who just wanted to solo, Collins was creating the kind of solos that would go on to be praised for generations to come. Rather than cut loose, every solo was carefully composed in the studio, with frontman Ronnie Van Zant demanding that the band stick to the studio version of the solo whenever they played live.
The model seemed to be working up until 1977 with the release of the album Street Survivors. While Collins had faced various rock and roll mishaps like car accidents in his time, everything came to an abrupt end during a flight between tour stops when their plane crashed down in the middle of an open field. After the pilot needed to make an emergency landing, he accidentally dumped the fuel, leading to the plane plummeting to the ground.
Collins walked away with his life, but the rest of the band wouldn’t be so lucky, with Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines dying on impact and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines bleeding out before medical help arrived on the scene. The guitarist had suffered a broken back in the crash, and any chances of the band playing together again were practically non-existent.
After trying to soldier on in the Rossington/Collins band, the guitarist was dealt another blow in 1980 at home. Despite recuperating from being physically broken, Collins was emotionally broken when his wife passed away following a miscarriage, leaving him distraught for the rest of his life.
One night, when trying to cope with his pain, Collins would end up behind the wheel of a car after a night of heavy drinking and crashing, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Lynyrd Skynyrd may have been long gone by that point, but there seemed to be life after death once Van Zant’s little brother, Jonny, stepped up to fill his brother’s shoes.
Collins couldn’t perform like he used to anymore, but he would be one of the first people onstage at their reunion concert to introduce the new band to the world. Even though Collins was happy to cheer on his bandmates, Van Zant’s widow Judy remembered how difficult it was for him, telling Behind the Music, “When the band went back out without Allen, it was killing him to know that those guys were up there and he couldn’t play.”
Even though Collins struggled for a few more years supporting the band, he was finally able to rest in 1990, when he passed away from complications of pneumonia. Although the guitarist may not have been able to play his favourite music for years before his death, his solos on songs like ‘Freebird’ will live in anyone who has ever tried their hand at making a Southern-fried take on rock and roll.
