Steve Gaines
Steven Earl Gaines (September 14, 1949 – October 20, 1977) was an American musician. He is best known as a guitarist and backing vocalist with rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1976 until his death in the October 1977 airplane crash that claimed other band members and crew.
Also recorded as Steven Earl Gaines
Steve Gaines
- Name
- Steve Gaines
- Birth Name
- Steven Earl Gaines
- Born
- 14 September 1949
- Birthplace
- Miami, Oklahoma, U.S.
- Died
- 20 October 1977
- Place of death
- Gillsburg, Mississippi, U.S.
- Occupation
- Guitarist
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- blues
- Honours
- Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Steve Gaines. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q939194 · wikipedia · Steve Gaines
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Steve Gaines • Birth Name — Steven Earl Gaines • Born — 14 September 1949 • Birthplace — Miami, Oklahoma, U.S. • Died — 20 October 1977 • Place of death — Gillsburg, Mississippi, U.S. • Alias — * Okie • Crawdaddy • Occupation — Guitarist • Genre — Blues, Southern rock • Past Member Of — Lynyrd Skynyrd • Years Active — 1964–1977
Life and career
Life and career
Gaines was born and raised in Miami, Oklahoma. When he was 15 years old, he saw the Beatles performing live in Kansas City. After being driven home from the concert, he pestered his father to buy him his first guitar. His band, Manalive, recorded at the Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. In the 1970s, Steve played with bands ILMO Smokehouse from Quincy, Illinois, Detroit with Rusty Day (an offshoot of The Detroit Wheels) and Crawdad (a band that Steve had started around 1974). In 1975, he recorded several songs with Crawdad at Capricorn studios in Macon, Georgia which were released by MCA in 1988 as One in the Sun (when Lynyrd Skynyrd band began touring). This album is listed as his only official solo album. Steve has two other albums, which are rare CDs from Steve's widow Teresa: I Know a Little (a collection of live recordings with Crawdad as well as Manalive) and Okie Special (a collection of live recordings with Crawdad as well as Detroit). Only 100 copies of each of the two CDs have been made. In December 1975, Steve's older sister, Cassie, became a member of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd's female backup singers, The Honkettes. The band had been seeking a replacement for Ed King, one of three lead guitarists in its lineup, since his departure in mid-1975. Cassie recommended Steve, and after initial reluctance the band allowed him to join them onstage for a song during a show at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri on May 11, 1976, Jimmie Rodgers' "T-For Texas, (Blue Yodel #1)". Although the band couldn't hear Steve's playing onstage, soundman Kevin Elson was listening through headphones and told them that Steve was outstanding. They jammed with him informally a couple of times more, then invited him into the band just in time for the recording of Skynyrd's live album One More from the Road. The first of three shows recorded for the album was Gaines' third gig with the band. • Illustration — Steve Gaines with Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1977 (from left to right): Leon Wilkeson, Allen Collins, Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, Steve Gaines, Artimus Pyle and Billy Powell.
Identity
Identity
Steve Gaines is recorded with the occupation guitarist. Recorded as a citizen of United States. Classed in the genre blues.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1949
Steve Gaines was born on 14 September 1949.
1977
Steve Gaines died on 20 October 1977.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Steve Gaines was born at Seneca.
Birthplace
Steve Gaines died at Gillsburg.
Deathplace
Seneca.
Birth place
Gillsburg.
Death place
Plane crash, death and legacy
On October 20, 1977, three days after Street Survivors was released (and five dates into the band's most successful ticket sales tour yet), a plane carrying both musicians and crew between shows from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, crashed outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi. The plane landed in a swampy area and crashed into trees, killing Gaines, Van Zant, Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray. Gaines was cremated and his ashes were buried in Orange Park, Florida in 1977, but were relocated to an undisclosed location after vandals broke into his and bandmate Ronnie Van Zant's tombs on June 29, 2000. Their mausoleums remain as memorials for fans to visit. 10 years later, the new location of their interment was accidentally revealed by a Craigslist ad. A family selling two plots they decided not to retain, ran a Craigslist ad and stated the plots were in the Jacksonville Memory Gardens Cemetery in Orange Park, Florida, adjacent to Ronnie Van Zant's tomb.
Discography
• Lynyrd Skynyrd • One More from the Road (1976) • Street Survivors (1977) • Solo • One in the Sun (1988)
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Steve Gaines, revision 1338860207 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
43,928 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Steve FiskPerson
- Steve ForbertPerson
- Steve FranksPerson
- Steve GaddPerson
- Steve GibbonsPerson
- Steve GilmorePerson
- Steve GoodmanPerson
- Steve GornPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Steve Gaines?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.