TALENT WE LOST

R.I.P. Ronald Wayne "Ronnie" Van Zant (LYNYRD SKYNYRD): January 15th, 1948 – October 20th, 1977 (aged 29)
R.I.P. Cassie LaRue Gaines (LYNYRD SKYNYRD): January 9th, 1948 – October 20th, 1977 (aged 29)
R.I.P. Steven Earl "Steve" Gaines (LYNYRD SKYNYRD): September 14th, 1949 – October 20th, 1977 (aged 28)

Following a performance in support of the newly-released Street Survivors album, at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium in Greenville, South Carolina, on October 20th, 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd boarded a chartered plane with a faulty engine to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After running low on fuel the pilots attempted an emergency landing before crashing in a heavily forested area five miles northeast of Gillsburg, Mississippi. Singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, background singer Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray were killed on impact.

R.I.P. Paul Vincent Raven (KILLING JOKE, PRONG, MINISTRY): January 16th, 1961 – October 20th, 2007 (aged 46)

R.I.P. Phil Kennemore (Y&T): October 20th, 1953 - January 7th, 2011

Late Y&T bassist Phil Kennemore would’ve been 70 today.

HEAVY BIRTHDAYS

Happy 56th
Fred Coury (CINDERELLA) - October 20th, 1967

Happy 78th
Ric Lee (born Richard Lee; TEN YEARS AFTER) - October 20th, 1945

Happy 72nd
Alan Greenwood (FOREIGNER, JOE LYNN TURNER) - October 20th, 1951

Happy 58th
Tom Naumann (SINNER, PRIMAL FEAR) - October 20th, 1965

HEAVY RELEASES

Happy 25th
BLACK SABBATH’s Reunion - October 20th, 1998

Happy 25th
AEROSMITH’s A Little South Of Sanity – October 20th, 1998

Happy 14th Birthday
CONVERGE's Axe To Fall - October 20th, 2009

Happy 13th Birthday
AMBERIAN DAWN’s End Of Eden - October 20th, 2010
ARCKANUM’s Sviga Lae - October 20th, 2010

Happy 6th
SLIPKNOT’s Day Of The Gusano: Live in Mexico - October 20th, 2017
AMENRA’s Mass VI - October 20th, 2017
BLUT AUS NORD’s Deus Salutis Meæ - October 20th, 2017
EUROPE’s Walk The Earth - October 20th, 2017

GWAR’s The Blood of Gods - October 20th, 2017
IRON MONKE’s 9–13 - October 20th, 2017
NICK OLIVERI’s N.O. Hits at All, Vol. 3 - October 20th, 2017
NOGOD’s Proof - October 20th, 2017
OZ’s Transition State - October 20th, 2017
SONS OF APOLLO’s Psychotic Symphony - October 20th, 2017
TRIVIUM’s The Sin And The Sentence - October 20th, 2017
VEIL OF MAYA’s False Idol - October 20th, 2017
VUUR’s In This Moment We Are Free – Cities - October 20th, 2017
WE CAME AS ROMANS’ Cold Like War - October 20th, 2017