Larkin Allen Collins, Jr. was born today in Jacksonville, Florida in 1952. He started playing guitar at age 12 under the tutelage of his mother. By the time he was in high school he was known around town as a competent player who also owned his own gear. This lead to Ronnie Van Zandt and Bob Burns of the nascent Lynyrd Skynyrd to come to his house to invite him to play in the band. Collins knew Van Zandt and Burns were some rough sons of guns so he actually climbed a tree when he saw them, thinking they were there to give him a beating.

Eventually, Collins came down from the tree and Lynyrd Skynyrd was born. You folks reading this don't need to be told who Skynyrd was. Collins survived the plane crash that killed many of his bandmates and went on to found the Rossington Collins Band with Skynyrd's rhythm guitarist, Gary Rossington, and also started the Allen Collins Band.

Fate wasn't done tossing Collins around as his wife died during a miscarriage in 1980. A few years later he was involved in a car accident that killed his girlfriend and paralyzed him. He was under the influence and was convicted of vehicular manslaughter. He would never perform live again, but he would remain party of Skynyrd and would address the audience and warn of the dangers of drinking and driving. Allen Collins died at age 37 from pneumonia which was a complication of his paralysis.

This man flat out rocked and was a major force in one of the greatest rock and roll bands that these here United States of America has ever produced. On the first Skynyrd album alone, 1973s "(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)", Collins co-wrote "Tuesday's Gone", "Gimme Three Steps", and "Free Bird". That's a career for some people but Collins wasn't done and went on to co-write many other fantastic songs, including the ones below.