Leon Wilkeson
Acting
Biography
Born on April 2, 1952 in Newport, Rhode Island but raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Wilkeson became a major Beatles fan just as he was becoming a teenager and began learning to play bass guitar in order to emulate his favorite member of the Fab Four, Paul McCartney. Wilkeson dropped out of his school band in order to focus on learning the bass at the age of 14 and, shortly afterwards, was approached by a fellow student, who told him that her brother was searching for a bassist for his band. Her brother turned out to be Ronnie Van Zant, and soon after, Wilkeson signed on with Van Zant's local group, the Collegiates. However, due to plummeting school grades, Wilkeson had to drop out of the group at the behest of his parents. Soon Wilkeson found himself in another local group, the King James Version. He began to study the 'lead bass style' of such accomplished players as Cream's Jack Bruce, Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Jefferson Airplane's Jack Casady, The Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh, and the Allman Brothers'Berry Oakley. By the early '70s, Wilkeson was becoming one of Jacksonville's top bassists. When Lynyrd Skynyrd's bassist Larry Junstrom moved to Miami, Wilkeson was brought in as his replacement. Was the bassist of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1972 until his death in 2001.
Known For
An intimate look into the personal lives of pop music's greatest and most influential artists.
Behind the Music
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Rockpalast
Bob Harris presents a concert by the southern rockers, recorded in Shepherd's Bush, London for Old Grey Whistle Test on November 11th, 1975.
Lynyrd Skynyrd: The Old Grey Whistle Test
A concert shot for the Rockpalast show on the Loreley Festival on June 23, 1996. As a special treat for the fans, the bonus material include three of the band's most famous songs performed by the original line-up at the Hamburg Musikhalle in 1974.
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Live at Rockpalast
See classic live performances, interviews and vintage footage of the original Lynyrd Skynyrd band.
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird, The Movie & Tribute Tour
Lynyrd Skynyrd took to the stage at Winterland Arena in San Francisco, CA on March 7th, 1976, while the band was in the midst of promoting their new album 'Gimme Back My Bullets.'
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Live at Winterland 1976
Recorded and filmed on July 15, 1997, at Star Lake Coca-Cola Amphitheatre, Burgettstown, PA Songs include: Sweet Home Alabama, Freebird, Saturday Night Special, I Know a Little, Gimme Three Steps, What's Your Name, Travelin' Man, Bernice, On the Hunt, You Got That Right, Voodoo Lake, That Smell, Bring it On, Simple Man, We Ain't Much Different
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Lyve from Steel Town
On August 21st, 1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd took the stage at Knebworth Park in England as part of a daylong festival that also included among others Todd Rundgren's Utopia, 10cc and headliners The Rolling Stones. With Ronnie Van Zandt's all-in vocals and their famed triple guitar attack featuring Gary Rossington, Allen Collins and Steve Gaines, Lynyrd Skynyrd delivered an electric performance in front of a crowd estimated between 150,000 and 200,000, which has gone down as one of the band's greatest performances.
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Live at Knebworth '76
By the time Lynyrd Skynyrd played this sold-out show at San Francisco's Winterland ballroom on April 7th, 1975, they had become the unmistakable kings of Southern Rock. Spearheaded by charismatic frontman, Ronnie Van Zant, the group had taken southern boogie from the swamps and brought it to the masses. There is an enormous amount of energy and power in the multiple guitar mix of the band, and that is clearly apparent when they launch into solos on these songs. The group was coming off two hugely successful albums, its debut (pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd) and 1974's Second Helping, and they had recently replaced original drummer Bob Burns with Artimus Pyle. It was recorded during the band's tour promoting their 1975 album, Nuthin' Fancy, and it features Lynyrd Skynyrd at the top of their game. It was also one of the last shows featuring their original three-guitar lineup, as Ed King left the band midway through the tour.
Lynyrd Skynyrd : Live at Winterland 1975
The Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute Tour was a tour that was undertaken to pay tribute to the original band members who died in a plane crash in 1977. The tour began in the fall of 1987, in honor of the 10-year anniversary of the plane crash. A number of surviving members reunited for the tour. Original members Gary Rossington, Billy Powell and Leon Wilkeson were joined by Ed King (original member who had left the band in 1975), Artimus Pyle (drummer at the time of the plane crash), Randall Hall and Johnny Van Zant.