(April 2, 1952 – July 27, 2001)
was an American musician.
He was the bassist of the
southern rock band
from 1972
until his death
in 2001.
Early Life
in Newport,
Rhode Island,
but raised in
Jacksonville, Florida,
Wilkeson became a
major Beatles fan
just as he was
becoming a teenager
and began learning
to play bass guitar
in order to emulate
his favorite Beatle,
Paul McCartney.
Wilkeson dropped out
of his school band
in order to focus on
learning the bass
at the age of 14
and shortly afterward
was approached by
a fellow student
who told him
that her brother
was searching for a bassist
for his band.
Her brother
turned out to be
Ronnie Van Zant,
and soon after,
Wilkeson signed on
with
Van Zant's group,
the Collegiates.
However,
due to plummeting
school grades,
Wilkeson had to drop out
of the group.
Soon Wilkeson found himself
in another local group,
the King James Version.
He began to study the
"lead bass style"
of bassists such as
Cream's
Jack Bruce,
Led Zeppelin's
John Paul Jones,
Jefferson Airplane's
Jack Casady,
The Grateful Dead's
Phil Lesh
and
the Allman Brothers'
Berry Oakley.
By 1972,
Wilkeson was becoming
one of Jacksonville's
top bassists.
When Lynyrd Skynyrd's
bassist
Greg T. Walker
left the band,
Wilkeson was brought in
as his replacement.
For a short time,
Wilkeson worked at a
dairy plant,
Farm Best Dairy
in Jacksonville,
during which on
an interview he laughed
that he
"got paid every two weeks
and got all the ice cream
he could eat".
Lynyrd Skynyrd
With its outlaw image,
tough Southern rock,
and solid touring,
Skynyrd quickly became
one of the top bands
of the 1970s,
scoring such hit albums
as 1974's
Second Helping,
1975's
Nuthin' Fancy,
1976's
Gimme Back My Bullets
and
One More from the Road,
plus 1977's
Street Survivors
and such hit singles as
"Free Bird"
and
"Sweet Home Alabama."
It was also
during this time
that Wilkeson picked up
the gimmick of
wearing colorful
hats onstage,
garnering the nickname
"Mad Hatter."
1977 Plane Crash
The band and its entourage
went down in
a plane crash
on
October 20, 1977
following their final concert
in Greenville, South Carolina,
outside of
Gillsburg, Mississippi,
which left members
Ronnie Van Zant,
Steve Gaines
and
Cassie Gaines
dead and the rest
suffering severe lacerations,
broken bones and
various internal injuries.
Wilkeson was
seated next to
Steve Gaines,
and both were thrown
face first into a bulkhead
at high speed
while still strapped
in their airline seats.
Wilkeson awoke
to find Gaines dead
from a broken neck
and himself severely injured.
At the hospital,
he was found to have
suffered a closed
double fracture of
his left leg,
a severe double compound fracture
of his left arm,
Six broken ribs
one of which was an
internal compound fracture
that punctured and
deflated his left lung
upper/lower jaw/nose/facial bones
extensively smashed
and 15 teeth
basically all of his teeth
except the molars
knocked out.
The injury to his left arm
was most concerning,
as the dirty water
of the swamp
had already
extensively contaminated
his open wounds,
and the additional surgery
he would need to
rebuild his face
and arm
with steel plates
would raise his risk
of infection even further.
His hands had survived intact,
but his fretting arm
suffered such
extensive nerve damage
that its amputation
was seriously considered.
Subsequently,
he was left with a
greatly reduced
range of motion,
which forced him
to hold his bass
close to his body
and at a
distinctive near-vertical
orientation.
Wilkeson returned to
playing music
professionally
three years later,
but never recovered
his original dexterity
on the instrument
Post-plane crash
After the crash,
Wilkeson and the
other survivors
mostly stayed out
of the spotlight
for the remainder
of the 1970s,
as they attempted
to put their lives
back together.
Wilkeson managed to
record bass parts
for the 1979 album
Contraband
by
Jacksonville band
"Alias".
The 1980s
appeared to bring
great promise
for most of the
surviving band members,
as a new group,
the Rossington-Collins Band,
formed,
consisting of
Wilkeson,
guitarists
Gary Rossington
and
Allen Collins,
and keyboardist
Billy Powell
After Lynyrd Skynyrd
The Rossington-Collins Band
got off to a good start,
as their 1980 debut,
'"Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere,"
became a modest hit.
But shortly after the release
of their second album,
1982's
This Is the Way,
the band split up.
Wilkeson opted to remain
with Collins
in a new venture,
The Allen Collins Band,
issuing one album
in 1983,
Here, There and Back.
After the Allen Collins Band fizzled,
little was heard from
Wilkeson during
the mid-1980s,
except for a
short-lived membership with
Rocco Marshall's
Christian-rock band
Vision,
which also included
Billy Powell.
But in 1987,
Wilkeson and Powell
signed on with a
reunited version
of Skynyrd,
with
Ronnie Van Zant's
youngest brother,
Johnny
Death
Wilkeson died
in his sleep on
July 27, 2001,
at age 49
at the Sawgrass
Marriott Resort & Beach Club
in Ponte Vedra Beach,
Florida.
He was pronounced dead
by St Johns County
Fire Rescue Paramedic,
Charlie Galambos.
Galambos reports that
leaving the scene
moments after pronouncing
Wilkeson dead,
news had already leaked
to the media,
as he listened to
the report on
local FM radio.
Wilkeson was in town to
address charges of
driving under the influence,
for which he had been
cited earlier that year.
A medical examiner
reported that Wilkeson
was suffering from
chronic liver
and
lung disease
and died of
natural causes
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