Cassie Gaines on rightCassie LaRue Gaines (January 9, 1948 – October 20, 1977) was an American singer. She was a member of the female gospel vocal trio The Honkettes, who in 1975 became the backup singers for Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.
When Lynyrd Skynyrd was in need of a guitar player to replace recently departed Ed King, Cassie recommended her brother, Steve, who joined the band soon after.
On October 20, 1977, a plane carrying the band between shows from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, crashed outside of Gillsburg, Mississippi.
The crash killed Ronnie Van Zant, Steve and Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, as well as pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray. Cassie and Steve Gaines were buried in Orange Park, Florida. They are the subject of 2001 song "Cassie's Brother" by alt-country band Drive-By Truckers.
Less than two years after the plane crash, the Gaines' mother, also named Cassie LaRue Gaines, was killed in an automobile accident near the cemetery where Steve and Cassie were buried. She was buried near her children.
