board were seriously injured, including Wilkeson who was left in a critical condition and reportedly declared dead three times. The group disbanded after the crash. In 1978, a collection of previously unreleased recordings from 1971 and 1972 was released as Skynyrd's First and... Last. The following year, the surviving members (with the exception of Wilkeson) reunited at Volunteer Jam for a performance of "Free Bird" with Charlie Daniels and his band. 1987 onwards In July 1987, Lynyrd Skynyrd announced their reforming for the Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute Tour, with returning members Rossington, King, Wilkeson, Pyle and Powell joined by new lead vocalist Johnny Van Zant, Ronnie's younger brother. Collins, who was unable to join the reunited group after a car accident the previous year left him paralyzed from the waist down, chose Randall Hall from his own eponymous band to take his place on guitar. After the band's first post-reformation studio album Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991, Pyle left suddenly after a show in August, with Kurt Custer taking his place. Hall left in 1993 after the release of The Last Rebel, later suing the remaining members of the band for $500,000. Custer followed Hall out of the group the next year in order to focus on his solo career. Hall and Custer were replaced by Mike Estes and Owen Hale, respectively, both of whom performed on the 1994 album Endangered Species. King was forced to leave the band in 1996 due to health problems, with Hughie Thomasson brought in to take his place; Estes left around the same time, with former drummer Medlocke returning to the band on guitar as a result. Hale left in late 1998 after the Twenty Tour; he was replaced first by Jeff McAllister, followed by Kenny Aronoff who played on Edge of Forever, before Michael Cartellone took over in 1999 after the dissolution of the Damn Yankees. On July 27, 2001, longtime bassist Leon Wilkeson died in his sleep of natural causes. He was replaced by Ean Evans, who had earlier substituted for Wilkeson at several shows the previous year. Thomasson left Lynyrd Skynyrd in 2005 to reform his previous band Outlaws, with his replacement Mark Matejka joining early the next year. The band was forced to change its lineup twice in 2009 due to deaths in the group – first, longtime keyboardist Billy Powell died of a heart attack on January 28; and later, bassist Evans