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R.I.P Billy Powell


Mr Tech

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William Norris "Billy" Powell (June 3, 1952 – January 28, 2009) was the longtime keyboardist of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.


Born in Corpus Christi, Texas,
Powell grew up in a military family (his father was in the navy) and
spent several years of his childhood living in Italy where his father
was stationed. After his father died of cancer in 1960, he moved with
his family back to the United States and settled in Jacksonville, Florida. His mother enrolled him at the Sanford Naval Academy in Sanford, Florida.
While at Sanford, Billy's interest in music began to grow. He began
taking piano lessons from a local teacher named Madeleine Brown. She
swore he did not need her, claiming that Billy was a natural and picked
things up well on his own.[1]


Billy returned to Jacksonville where he enrolled at Bishop Kenny High School. It was here that he met Leon Wilkeson,
future bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd. The two soon became close friends.
When he graduated in 1970, he enrolled briefly in a community college,
majoring in Music Theory. Around this time he found work as a roadie
for Lynyrd Skynyrd.


Powell remained a roadie for Skynyrd until 1972, when the band was hired to play the Bolles School
prom. After setting up the band's equipment, Billy sat down at a piano
in the corner of the room and began to play his own version of 'Free Bird'. Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant was impressed, and invited Powell to join Lynyrd Skynyrd officially as their new keyboard player.[2]


In 1973, Lynyrd Skynyrd was signed to MCA Records and received national exposure in with the release of their first album, (pronounced 'leh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd). The bands popularity soared in 1974 with their follow-up album, Second Helping, which featured their highest-charting single, "Sweet Home Alabama". The band enjoyed great popularity over the next three years, culminating in the 1977 release of Street Survivors, which many considered to be their strongest effort to date.


However, three days after the release of Street Survivors, Skynyrd's chartered plane crashed into a forest near McComb, Mississippi. The crash took the lives of singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines,
and assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick. The remainder of the band
suffered injuries ranging from mild to severe. Powell suffered severe
facial lacerations, almost completely losing his nose but was otherwise
relatively uninjured. He was the first to be released from the
hospital, and the only member able to attend the funerals of his fallen
bandmates.


During the time between the plane crash and the Lynyrd Skynyrd
reunion in 1987, Powell briefly joined a Christian rock band named
Vision. His keyboard playing was often spotlighted in Vision concerts.
Powell also spoke during the concerts about his newly found faith in
Jesus Christ.


Powell rejoined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1987 for a tribute tour, and remained with the band until his death. Guitarist Gary Rossington is the only member from the classic lineup who continues to record and perform with the reunited band today.


His son Brandon Powell is a guitarist in the Jacksonville based rock band Syntenic.


On January 28, 2009 Powell died at his condo in Orange Park, Florida.[3]
He had called 911 just before 1 am complaining of difficulty breathing.
Paramedics found him unresponsive in his bedroom still holding the
phone. It is believed he had a heart attack, but an autopsy will be
preformed.[4]

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From Googling 'Billy Powell' - very cool story about Roadie Billy becoming Honky Tonk Billy!

Billy Powell bio


Best known for his time as Lynyrd Skynyrd's unique keyboardist, Billy Powell was born on (June 3, 1952) in
Corpus Christi, TX. His father was a Navy man, and so Powell spent some of his
childhood in Italy. In 1960, his dad, Donald, died from cancer. The family moved back to the United States where
his mom, Marie took a job working at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville.
Billy attended Sanford Academy. It was here that his interest in music grew. He
took piano lessons, although his tutor, Madeleine Brown said that Billy really
didn't need to be taught - he picked things up right away, by himself.

From Sanford, Billy enrolled at Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville.
Here, Billy became good friends with one Roy Simpson and they hung together.
After a short time, Roy introduced Billy to one of his friends, a young man
named Leon Wilkeson and a lifelong friendship was born.


Billy eventually left high school, and enrolled at Jacksonville Community
College, where he was a music theory major. Billy was also involved in music in
a less formal setting, joining a local band called Alice Marr, which amongst
others, also included future 38 Special rockers Don Barnes and Donnie Van Zant.
He also did some road work for the up and coming Lynyrd Skynyrd.


billy_kevin_crew.gif


Billy remained
a member of the Skynyrd crew for two years (which included, amongst the grittier
shows, highlights such as Skynyrd landing a support slot for Leslie West's
"Mountain") In his second year with them, 1972, Skynyrd played one
particular gig, a show at the Bolles school prom. After his usual routine
working with Kevin Elson, Billy had time to rest for a short while. In the corner
he spotted a piano, so Billy went over and sat down with it. Just fooling
around, Billy launches into his piano based version of Freebird for the boys in
the band to listen to. Ronnie, astonished at his roadies hitherto secret ability
said 'You mean to tell me, you've been playing the piano like that and
you've been workin' for us for a year....'.
Billy replied ,
"Well, you know, I've been classically trained most of my life.'
He
was then told Skynyrd were looking for a keyboard man, and Billy was in !!


billy_reflection.gif


Things went from good to great, life slowly becoming a
dream come true for Powell and his bandmates as they set about making some
legendary southern music. But in 1977, it became a nightmare. The plane carrying the band members
crashed into a swamp in McComb, Mississippi. The band was decimated.
Ronnie, Steve, Cassie , Dean, Chuck and the pilots all lost their lives. The
rest of the band were seriously injured, and all housed in different hospitals
around Mississippi. Billy was the first band member to leave hospital, and in
fact was the only one to attend the funerals of his fallen comrades.


Eventually, the music did go on for Powell. In 1978, Billy became the first Skynyrd
member to climb back in the saddle, by
guesting on 38 Special's album "Special Delivery". He performed with other,
low-key bands and even helped form one in 1979, called Alias. The band released
a 1979 debut album called "Contraband" but it didn't do too well. When
news leaked that Rossington and Collins were looking to start a band themselves,
Billy quit Alias, and he took Leon Wilkeson with him. The "Rossington
Collins Band" made a significant impact, but only lasted for two albums due
to various personal and drug problems amongst the band members. Gary Rossington
eventually decided that he'd had enough of the band and quit. The remainder of
the band struggled on, recruiting Randall Hall as third guitarist, and Jimmy
Dougherty to take over lead vocals from Dale Krantz (who left with Gary). The
band, without Gary, obviously could not continue to be called "The
Rossington Collins Band" and so renamed itself "Horsepower". The
name though was already in use, forcing another name change, this time simply to
"The Allen Collins Band". They cut a single album in 1983 called
"Here, There and Back", which Larkin Collins (Allen's dad) glowingly
(if unrealistically) compared to Skynyrd at its prime. With growing disinterest
from MCA, the band broke up.

Billy was having some problems now, both with
drink and with the taxman. He was still performing in 1985 as a member of the
Christian rock band "Vision" with Leon Wilkeson on bass, and
occasionally Grand Funk Railroads Mark Farner on lead vocals. However, he owed
the IRS hundreds of thousands of dollars and was now living at his mother's
house.

The tenth anniversary of the crash was fast approaching, and although
Southern Rock had long past its prime, there was still a large, loyal fanbase of
Skynyrd fanatics out there. Powell had noticed that at Vision's shows, audience
members had been yelling out for Lynyrd Skynyrd songs. Powell knew that someone
was likely to tour a Skynyrd tribute for the 10th anniversary - so why not make
it the surviving members? Not only would it rekindle the magic of the glory
years but it would help the guys out financially, and some really needed that.
Allen Collins was by now confined to a wheelchair, paralysed by the 1986 car
crash her was involved in. Artimus Pyle was having severe problems with money he
owed to the IRS. Leon had ploughed much of his money into Lynyrd Skynyrd Beer
which was a dismal failure, Ed King was now having to make a living teaching
guitar, and Billy himself owed money to the taxman.

It was a terribly
difficult thing to reunite the band. Most of the guys were keen to do it, but
Gary Rossington dragged his feet as he was reluctant to be involved. Other problems
included finding a third guitar player as Allen was no longer able to play, and
biggest of all - who was going to sing? Allen had no doubt who would fill his
spot. If the band didn't sign up Randall Hall, Allen said, then he would do his
best to prevent the tour continuing. Randall, Allen's handpicked replacement was
in.

Ronnie Van Zant was a difficult problem, but the guys knew that Ronnie
had not one, but two singing brothers. One - Donnie - was a successful musician
in his own right fronting 38 Special. The other, youngest brother Johnny, had a
record deal with Atlantic previously. He'd released five albums but never really
made it, so quit to drive a truck for a living. The band invited Johnny out to
discuss things, and with the blessing of the Van Zant clan, Johnny signed on as
lead singer.

Billy's first concert back as a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd was
during a short (five song) emotional set at the 1987 Charlie Daniels Volunteer
Jam, and he remains with the band to this day.

In the intervening years, Billy has continued to tour with the reformed
Skynyrd, and released a solo album "Second Time Around", as well as
guesting on records for other artists, such as Poison.

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Play That Honky-Tonk Piano!


MMj02969500000%5B1%5D.gifBack
several generations in the south there used to be "road houses", which
were somewhat similar to nightclubs today, but much more wide-open in
terms of the activities that took place in them. They were also
sometimes known as "honky-tonks", and so the music that was played in
them was naturally named after the establishment. Many of the early
ragtime and jazz pianists got their start in road houses playing for
dancing and for atmosphere.


Out of honky tonk - or at least contemporary with it - came boogie
woogie, blues, and jazz. Perhaps the closest thing to that style of
playing today would be Jerry Lee Lewis.

Honky-tonk piano is a very rhythmic, very rollicking style of piano
playing most often associated with ragtime. The term itself comes from
a name given to certain bars in the early 20th century; these were
rough bars that often encouraged rowdy behavior and brought in
self-made piano players to entertain the roughshod crowd. When
honky-tonk piano first emerged, it seemed to be a musical
representation of that type of behavior; honky-tonk piano was rowdy and
rough, catering to working-class audiences who just wanted to dance and
have a good time.




The honky-tonk piano style itself is extremely distinctive, enough so
that a particular sound associated with it is included on modern
digital keyboards. It's a slightly out-of-tune, twangy sound that
reflects an old piano being played in an old bar. It's similar to
ragtime; but unlike ragtime, honky-tonk piano is less concerned with
overt melody and more with the percussive elements of the player
. It
was extremely rhythmic, extremely danceable and extremely popular among
ragtime fans. And what's more, honky-tonk piano eventually went on to
inspire a whole host of piano styles, including some branches of jazz
and boogie-woogie; in some ways, the original honky-tonk piano was a
precursor to the familiar walking bass found in a variety of musical
styles.



Honky-tonk piano has since morphed into a style different from that of
ragtime, a style sometimes associated with backwoods country music. It
could have something to do with the honky-tonk piano's specific sound;
the out-of-tune honky-tonk piano tone at times mimics the quality of
instruments like banjos and fiddles, creating a great complement to the
fast, vivacious music found on the front porches of southern homes
. And
honky-tonk piano even moved forward to influence many branches of
modern country music, especially alternative country that relies
heavily on rhythmic elements as opposed to melodic.
For piano courses for adults please go to http://www.playpianocatalog.com

post-10755-13819438082164_thumb.jpg

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I was truly sad when I read that yesterday. Absolutely one of the greats, he was able to find a prominent, unique voice in the sound between 3 incredible guitar players without muddying the sound. As a keyboard player I cannot escape his influence, nor do I want to.

RIP

woo

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