This one hurts. Billy was one of my favorite keyboard players. Had a chance to meet him when he was playing with Christian rock band Vision back in the 80′s.
Lynyrd Skynyrd Pianist Billy Powell Has Died
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s keyboard player and our friend Billy Powell has died. According to insider sources, he started experiencing chest pains and difficulty breathing and called 911 at 12:55 a.m. this morning. He was still alive when EMS arrived at his Orange Park, Florida condo, but went into caridiac arrest and slipped away. He was 56 years old.
Born William Norris “Billy” Powell on June 3, 1952, in Corpus Christi, Texas, Powell grew up a Navy brat, spending many years living wiith his family in Italy. When his father died of cancer in 1960, he moved with his family back to the United States and settled in Jacksonville, Florida. While enrolled at the Sanford Naval Academy in Sanford, Florida, he began taking piano lessons from a local teacher named Madeleine Brown who often called young Billy a prodigy, saying he really didn’t need her at all because his music flowed from deep inside him.
Billy returned to Jacksonville where he met Leon Wilkeson, future bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd. After graduation, Leon helped him get a job as a roadie for Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Powell remained a roadie for Skynyrd until 1972, when he sat down at a piano in the corner of the room at a gig and began to play his own version of “Free Bird.” Ronnie Van Zant was impressed, and invited Powell to join Lynyrd Skynyrd officially as their new keyboard player.
Billy enjoyed the fame, the success of the original band, and endured the tragic plane crash of 1977 that took the lives of several band mambers, including Ronnie. He would rejoin the Tribute Tour ten years later, and stay with the band until death.
During the time between the plane crash and the Lynyrd Skynyrd reunion in 1987, Powell briefly joined a Christian rock band named Vision. His keyboard playing was often spotlighted in Vision concerts. Powell also spoke during the concerts about his newly found faith in Jesus Christ.
Billy’s son Brandon Powell is a guitarist in the Jacksonville based rock band Syntenic.
And the Swampland flag returns to half-mast.
-Michael Buffalo Smith
Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboard player Billy Powell dead at 56
Billy Powell, a longtime keyboard player for Lynyrd Skynyrd who survived the band’s 1977 plane crash, died at his Orange Park condo early this morning, according to police.
Orange Park Police Chief James Boivin said Powell called 911 from his condo in Club Continental and was pronounced dead at 1:52 a.m. after rescue crews performed CPR on him. Boivin said he was told Powell had an appointment with his heart specialist Monday but never made the appointment.
Current Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Johnny Van Zant spent 22 years with Powell in the band. He said the took the news of Powell’s death hard. (continue reading…)