Skynyrd Crash Survivor Allen Collins Dies, 37

Allen Collins, who lost fellow members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd in a 1977 plane crash and was paralyzed four years ago in a drunken driving accident, died Tuesday of pneumonia.

Collins, 37, suffered respiratory failure, said a Memorial Medical Center spokeswoman. He had been hospitalized since September.

Collins entered the hospital with pneumonia symptoms and was in a coma the last few days, said longtime friend Ann Thompson.

Collins began his rise to success as the lightning-fingered guitarist for the Jacksonville band formed in 1966 by a group of high school students. The band enjoyed national fame in the 1970s with such hits as “Gimme Three Steps” and “Sweet Home Alabama.”

In 1977, lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Stevie Gaines and Gaines’ sister, Cassie Gaines, were killed in a plane crash. Collins and other band members were severely injured.

Collins recovered and began performing again, eventually forming the Allen Collins Band. In 1986, his car ran off a road and crashed into a culvert, paralyzing him from the waist down and killing his girlfriend.