Allen Collins and Ronnie Van Zant

Allen Collins (1952–1990) and Ronnie Van Zant (1948–1977) were American musicians best known as principal members and songwriters of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Collins served as a guitarist and co-wrote several of the group’s best-known songs, helping shape its twin-guitar sound. Van Zant was the band’s lead singer and primary lyricist, recognized for his distinctive vocal style and storytelling approach to Southern themes. Both were central to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s rise in the 1970s. Van Zant died in a 1977 plane crash. Collins died in 1990.