Jeff Cook, guitarist and co-founder of country band Alabama, dead at 73

Jeff Cook, the multitalented guitarist in the band Alabama, died this week. He was 73.

The musician, who had battled Parkinson’s disease for a decade, died Monday at his vacation home in Destin, Fla.

“So sad to hear of the passing of Jeff Cook,” country star Jason Aldean wrote. “I spent a lot of my life listening to him play guitar, what an iconic sound he had. I got a chance to perform with him multiple times over the years and I will never forget it.”

Cook and his cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry churned out some of country’s biggest hits for more than a decade. They had more than 40 country chart-toppers, including “Mountain Music,” “Song of the South,” “Love in the First Degree” and “Dixieland Delight.”

Every year from 1980 through 1993, Alabama hit No. 1 on the country charts at least once.

“Few bands are more ubiquitous in country music today than Alabama,” Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern said. “Jeff was instrumental to Alabama’s high energy stage presence and authentic country sound. My deepest condolences to Jeff’s family, friends and the band.”

Born Aug. 27, 1949, in Fort Payne, Ala., Cook formed the band in 1972 with Owen and Gentry. Initially, they went by Wild Country, but they changed the name to Alabama in 1977.

Many of their first gigs were at bars throughout the South. They were best known for their work at the Bowery in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

“Lots of times we’d start at 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning and play until 1 a.m. with a lunch break around 6 p.m.,” Cook told AL.com in 2015. “(We learned about) the endurance of the road. And the ability to entertain people, not necessarily just when you’re singing.”

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Alabama had their first No. 1 hit in 1980 with “Tennessee River.” But that was just the beginning, as they soon enjoyed massive and continued success with “Mountain Music,” “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)” and “Dixieland Delight,” among many others.

In addition to his guitar skills, Cook was the band’s go-to fiddler. He was even inducted into the Fiddlers Hall of Fame in 2018.

One year before his induction, the artist revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012.

“This disease robs you of your coordination, your balance, and causes tremors,” Cook told the Nashville Tennessean in 2017. “For me, this has made it extremely frustrating to try and play guitar, fiddle or sing.”

Though he vowed to continue performing and briefly stayed on the road, Cook was forced to hang up his guitar and his fiddle in 2018.

Cook is survived by his wife, Lisa. Funeral plans have not yet been announced.

With News Wire Services