After 1977
Like the rest of his surviving bandmates, Collins struggled to find his way after 1977, and sadly he experienced even more misfortune. Collins and the other survivors didn’t get together until their one-off gig in January of 1979. During that performance, they performed a touching instrumental version of “Freebird” with a lone mic stand positioned in the center of the stage for respect to Ronnie Van Zant.
Source: chasingthelightart.com
In 1980, Rossington, Powell, and Wilkeson joined Collins to form the Rossington-Collins Band. They had a female lead singer, Dale Krantz, who was recruited deliberately to avoid any comparisons to Van Zant. But as they were preparing to tour for their new album, Collins got some terrible news…