Celebrity Graveland

June 3, 1952 – January 28, 2009

Billy Powell was most widely known as the keyboard and piano player for the American southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Powell originated as a roadie for the fledgling band, but impressed the members with his piano playing during downtime. He was offered a position and went on to be one of the longest tenured members of the legendary group.

Powell survived the devastating 1977 plane crash with severe facial injuries and was the only member of the band to be able to attend the funerals of bandmates Ronnie Van Zant and Steve and Cassie Gaines. In the early ’80s, Billy played with the Christian rock band, Vision – recording 3 albums with the band – as well as fellow Jacksonville southern rockers, .38 Special. In 1987, the surviving members of Skynyrd reunited and Powell remained with the band until he suffered a fatal heart attack in 2009.

Burial

Riverside Memorial Park – Jacksonville, FL

Specific Location

Enter the gates to the left of the Chapel, and Billy is buried on the right side of the circle drive immediately through the gates, under a large tree.

This entry was posted on May 2, 2022 at 9:33 am and is filed under Riverside Memorial Park with tags 38 Special, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Musicians, Riverside Memorial Park. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.