cassie gaines

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Cassie LaRue Gaines (January 9, 1948 – October 20, 1977) was an American singer. She was a member of female gospel vocal trio The Honkettes, who in 1975 became the backup singers for Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.

When Lynyrd Skynyrd was in need of a guitar player to replace recently departed Ed King, Cassie recommended
her brother, Steve Gaines, who joined the band soon after.

On October 20, 1977, a plane carrying the band between shows from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, crashed outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. The crash killed Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, as well as pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray. Cassie was 29 years old.

Cassie and Steve Gaines were buried in Orange Park, Florida in 1977. They are the subject of 2001 song "Cassie's Brother" by alt-country band Drive-By Truckers.

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

External links US NTSB Report on Plane Crash Cassie Gaines' Gravesite [hide] v • d • eLynyrd Skynyrd Johnny Van Zant · Gary Rossington · Billy Powell · Rickey Medlocke · Michael Cartellone · Ean Evans · Mark Matejka

Ronnie Van Zant · Allen Collins · Steve Gaines · Cassie Gaines · Leon Wilkeson

JoJo Billingsley · Bob Burns · Kurt Custer · Randall Hall · Leslie Hawkins · Larry Junstrom · Ed King · Artimus Pyle · Hughie Thomasson

Studio albums (pronounced
'leh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd) · Second Helping · Nuthin' Fancy · Gimme Back My Bullets · Street Survivors · Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991 · The Last Rebel · Twenty · Edge of Forever · Vicious Cycle Live albums One More from the Road · Southern By the Grace of God · Lyve from Steel Town · Lynyrd Skynyrd Lyve: The Vicious Cycle Tour Compilations 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Lynyrd Skynyrd · All Time Greatest Hits · Boxed Set · The Best of the Rest · Endangered Species · The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd · Gold & Platinum · Greatest Hits · Legend · Lynyrd Skynyrd · Skynyrd's First: The Complete Muscle Shoals Album · Skynyrd's First And... Last · Skynyrd's Innyrds · Old Time Greats · A Retrospective · Solo Flytes · Then and Now · Then And Now, Vol. 2 · Thyrty The 30th Anniversary Collection · What's Your Name Video Freebird... The Movie Spin-off bands The Rossington-Collins Band · The Rossington Band · Allen Collins Band · .38 Special · Van Zant · Artimus Pyle Band Related articles Discography · Band Members · Skynyrd Frynds Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassie_Gaines" Categories: 1948 births | 1977 deaths | American female singers | American rock singers | Lynyrd Skynyrd members | Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States | Accidental human deaths in Mississippi