- Cassie Gaines
Cassie LaRue Gaines (
January 9 ,1948 –October 20 ,1977 ) was an American singer. She was a member of female gospel vocal trioThe Honkettes , who in 1975 became the backup singers forSouthern rock bandLynyrd 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 fromGreenville, South Carolina toBaton Rouge, Louisiana , crashed outside ofGillsburg, Mississippi . The crash killedRonnie 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 " byalt-country bandDrive-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
* [http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=44587&key=0 US NTSB Report on Plane Crash]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2352 Cassie Gaines' Gravesite]
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