Donald Evans

Obituary: Bass guitarist with Lynyrd Skynyrd

Donald "Ean" Evans, who has died of cancer aged 48, understudied Lynyrd Skynyrd's original bass guitarist, Leon Wilkeson, before joining the American heavy rock band after Wilkeson's death in 2001. Wilkeson had been severely injured in a plane crash in 1977 that killed three band members, leaving him occasionally unable to perform.

Evans followed in his predecessor's footsteps by mimicking his style. In 2002 he took part in a 200-concert world tour and played on the Vicious Cycle and Lynyrd Skynyrd LYVE albums. The group played to its largest ever crowd, of 100,000 at the Bama Jam in Enterprise, Alabama, last year.

He was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. His first instrument was a trumpet, which he played in the high school orchestra, before switching to guitar, aged 16. This was the era of southern boogie, pioneered by Lynyrd Skynyrd themselves. Evans joined a local band, Five Miles High, before finding a vehicle for his own compositions in Cupid's Arrow, switching to bass guitar. In the 1980s he performed chiefly as a session musician, returning to live work in 1987 when Hughie Thomasson asked him to join the Outlaws, the "Florida guitar army" who frequently toured as a support act to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Thomasson joined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1996.

Soon, Evans too had a link with the band as he was asked to be on call as a substitute for Wilkeson. He initiated his own projects, playing lead guitar on his own compositions while describing his style as "Skynyrd meets Metallica - heavy metal rock but still with downhome lyrics". Other influences were John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin and Geddy Lee of Rush.

In 2001 and 2002, as Noon, Evans issued two albums. More recently, he formed Evanscapps with Bobby Capps, the keyboard player with another Southern boogie band, 38 Special. Their album Last Time was released in May.

Since the 1977 plane crash, Lynyrd Skynyrd has lost Allen Collins (1990), Wilkeson, Thomasson (2007) and keyboard player Billy Powell earlier this year.

Evans is survived by his wife Eva and two daughters.

• Donald "Ean" Evans, musician, born 16 September 1960; died 6 May 2009

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2009

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites