Ronald Wayne Van Zant was born on this day in Jacksonville, Florida in 1948. He and other classmates formed the band that would become Lynyrd Skynyrd when Ronnie was 16. Van Zant and other long-term members Gary Rossington and Allen Collins eventually chose to name the group after a gym teacher who ragged on students with long hair named Leonard Skinner.

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on January 15 include...

 

1941 Captain Beefheart (Don Vliet) is born.

1951 Motels Martha Davis is born.

1952 Marillion's  Pete Trewaves is born.
1965 The Who release I Can't Explain, the group's first single.

1967 Rolling Stones appear on Ed Sullivan Show and had to change the lyrics of Let's Spend the Night Together to "Let's Spend Some Time Together", which Jagger does, but rolls his eyes in obvious disgust as he sings it.
1969 George Harrison lays out his conditions for remaining in the Beatles during a long session with his band mates.

1979 Scorpions release Love Drive.

1982 The Police open the US leg of the Ghost in the Machine tour in Boston.

1982 Kinks release Give The People What They Want.
1992 Elton John Band bassist and Spencer Davis group veteran Dee Murray dies at 45 after suffering a stroke.

1992 Jimi Hendrix, and the Yardbirds inducted into Rock Hall Of Fame.

1994 Harry Nilsson dies of a heart failure.

1998 Blues legend Junior Wells who worked on projects with the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Carlos Santana and Bonnie Raitt dies at 63.

2001 Sting is given human rights award in Chile. It gets stolen from his dressing room in Buenos Aires the next night.

2007 Hand written lyrics to George Harrison’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps sell for $300,000 in Scottsdale, AZ auction.

2008 Ronnie Wood undergoes hernia surgery to repair an injury sustained during the Rolling Stones Bigger Bang tour.

2010 Charlie Daniels suffers minor stroke while snowmobiling in Colorado. 
2015 Rich Robinson announces the break-up of the Black Crowes....