Original Skynyrd Drummer Dies

Bob Burns, the original drummer for the iconic 1970s rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, was killed late Friday in a single-car wreck in unincorporated Cartersville, Bartow County, according to the Georgia State Patrol.

According to cartersvillepatch.com, the crash happened late Friday night when Burns was driving northbound on Tower Ridge Road and his vehicle left the westside of the roadway while approaching a right curve, said patrol spokesperson Tracey Watson.

“After leaving the roadway, the driver struck a mailbox and a tree with the front of the vehicle,” Watson said. Apparently Burns was not wearing a seatbelt at the time.

Burns was a teenager when he joined Lynyrd Skynyrd and remained in the band until 1974, playing on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s earliest demos, recorded in 1970, though conflicting reports have him taking a hiatus sometime during the early ‘70s.