Steve Gaines

This article is about the musician. For the clergyman, see Steve Gaines (pastor).
Steve Gaines
Background information
Birth name Steven Earl Gaines
Also known as Okie
Crawdaddy
Born (1949-09-14)September 14, 1949
Seneca, Missouri, United States
Origin Miami, Oklahoma
Died October 20, 1977(1977-10-20) (aged 28)
Gillsburg, Mississippi, United States
Genres Blues, Southern rock
Instruments Guitar, vocals
Years active 1964–1977
Labels MCA
Associated acts The Ravens (Steve's High School Band), Pink Peach Mob, Manalive, Rio Smokehouse, Detroit, Rusty Day, Crawdad, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Notable instruments
Fender Stratocaster
Gibson Les Paul Custom

Steven Earl "Steve" Gaines (September 14, 1949 – October 20, 1977) was an American musician. He is most well known as a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from May 11, 1976 until his death on October 20, 1977 and is the younger brother of Cassie Gaines, who was a back up vocalist for the band's live performances.

Life and career

Gaines was born in Seneca, Missouri, and raised in Miami, Oklahoma. When he was 15 years old, he saw The Beatles live in Kansas City. After being driven home from the concert, he pestered his father enough to buy him his first guitar. His band, Manalive, recorded at the famous Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. In the 1970s Steve played with bands Rio Smokehouse, Detroit with Rusty Day (an offshoot of The Detroit Wheels) and Crawdad (a band that Steve had started around 1974). In 1975, he recorded several songs with Crawdad at Capricorn studios in Macon, Georgia which were released by MCA in 1988 as One in the Sun (when the present day Lynyrd Skynyrd band began touring) and is listed as his only official solo album. Steve has two other albums, which are known to be very rare CDs from Steve's widow Teresa: I Know a Little (a collection of live recordings with Crawdad as well as Manalive) and Okie Special (a collection of live recordings with Crawdad as well as Detroit). Only 100 copies of each of the two CDs have been made.

In December 1975, Steve's older sister, Cassie, became a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd's female backup singers, The Honkettes. During this time, the band was in the midst of searching for a guitarist to replace Ed King, who left the band in mid-1975. Cassie recommended her brother, and after initial reluctance, the band allowed Steve to join them onstage for a show at Hoch Auditorium (University of Kansas) in Lawrence, Kansas on May 11, 1976. Although the band themselves couldn't hear Steve's playing onstage, soundman Kevin Elson was listening through headphones and told the band that Steve was an outstanding player. They jammed with him informally a couple of times more, then invited him into the band just in time for the recording of Skynyrd's live album One More from the Road. The first of three shows recorded for the album was Gaines' third gig with the band. Ed King and Steve Gaines were both born on September 14, 1949.

His guitar-picking and songwriting skills were a major revelation to the band, as proven on his one studio album, 1977's Street Survivors. Publicly and privately, Ronnie Van Zant marveled at the vocal and instrumental skill of Skynyrd's newest member, claiming that the band would "all be in his shadow one day". Steve's contributions included his co-lead vocal with Ronnie on the co-written "You Got That Right" (a solid hit single released after the plane crash) and the rousing guitar boogie "I Know a Little" which he had written before he joined Skynyrd. So confident was Skynyrd's leader of Steve's abilities that the album (and some concerts) featured Steve delivering his self-penned bluesy "Ain't No Good Life" – one of the few songs in the pre-crash Skynyrd catalog to feature a lead vocalist other than Ronnie Van Zant.

Death

On October 20, 1977, three days after the album Street Survivors was released (and five dates into the band's most successful ticket sales tour yet), a plane carrying the band between shows from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, crashed outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. The plane landed in a swampy area and crashed into trees. Gaines died from blunt-force trauma to the head; he was 28 years old and likely was killed on impact. The crash also killed Ronnie Van Zant, Steve's sister Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray.[1]

Steve Gaines was cremated and his ashes were buried in Orange Park, Florida in 1977, but were relocated to an undisclosed location after vandals broke into his and bandmate Ronnie Van Zant's tombs on June 29, 2000. Their mausoleums remain as memorials for fans to visit.

He is the subject of the 2001 song "Cassie's Brother" by rock band Drive-By Truckers.

Less than two years after the plane crash, the Gaines' mother, Cassie LaRue Gaines, was killed in an automobile accident near the cemetery where Steve and Cassie were buried. She was buried near her children.

Discography

Lynyrd Skynyrd
Solo

References

  1. ↑ Check-Six (May 2007). "The 'Lynyrd Skynyrd' Crash". Retrieved 2008-07-05.
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