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Written by KZYR
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Friday, 08 May 2009 |
A second member of Lynyrd Skynyrd passes away this year as bassist Donald Evans succumbs to cancer.
"It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of longtime
Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Ean Evans. Ean put up a valiant battle with an
aggressive form of cancer and he will be sorely missed by family,
friends and fans."
Evans was born in Atlanta, but moved to
Columbus after marrying his wife, Eva. He joined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 2001
and had been touring regularly with the band until being diagnosed with
cancer in 2008, when he cut back on performances with the band.
Survivors include his wife and two daughters.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
"He
was just one of those guys who was always a dreamer and always seeing
ahead. And he was the most positive person I've ever met," Mike Chain,
a guitarist who was close friends with Evans, told The Commercial
Dispatch in Columbus, Miss.
The Jacksonville-based band was
formed in 1966 by a group of high school students – famously, it took
its name from a physical education teacher they disliked, Leonard
Skinner.
They released their first album, "Pronounced leh-nerd
skin-nerd." It became one of the South's most popular rock groups and
gained national fame with such hits as "Free Bird," "What's Your Name"
and especially "Sweet Home Alabama," which reached the top 10 on the
charts in 1974. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in 2006.
The band suffered a tragic loss on Oct. 20, 1977,
when their chartered plane crashed in a swamp near McComb, Miss. The
crash claimed the lives of six people, including lead singer Ronnie Van
Zant. Keyboard player Billy Powell survived the plane crash that killed
three band members. He died in January.
In 2001, bassist Leon
Wilkeson died in his sleep in a hotel room near Jacksonville, Fla., and
Chain said he was with Evans the night he got hired by the band.
"We
were spending New Year's Eve together when this Skynyrd thing was
happening," Chain said. "It didn't look like it was going to happen.
But he just set his feet in the ground ... and was ready to stand up
and fly to the moon. And he did."
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