Jakson Spires

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Jakson Spires was born April 12th 1951 in Raleigh, North Carolina and rose to fame as one of the founding member of pioneering southern rock band Blackfoot. They began in 1972 as contemporaries of Lynyrd Skynyrd and found success with albums like “Strikes” and “Flying High”.

Talented songwriter Spires composed majority of songs for Blackfoot, including their biggest hits “Highway Song” and “Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie“. After Blackfoot disbanded in 1984, he was driving force behind Southern Rock Allstars, group he co-founded with ex- Molly Hatchet guitarist Dave Hlubek and former Rossington Band member Jay Johnson.

Gifted drummer Spires was known as “Thunderfoot” by his close friends, reference for his Native American roots and powerful drumming style.

In 2004, Blackfoot was got back together again, this time with their original members, Greg Walker, Charlie Hargrett along with Jakson Spires. At that point, the original vocalist Ricky Medlocke was playing with Lynyrd Skynyrd and was replaced by Bobby Brath. While working hard to revive the band’s earlier success, a tragedy struck in March 2005: Jakson Spires went into a coma after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage and passed away three days later from a massive brain aneurysm. He was only 53 years old at the time of his death.

Spires is survived by his wife Sherry and his four children, Jessica, Ameek , J.P. and Selera.

Jakson Spires  April 12th 1951 –  March 16th 2005


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