Cook led Alabama on the charts with hits like “Song of the South” and “Dixieland Delight.”
NEW YORK – Guitarist Jeff Cook, who was a co-founder. The successful country group Alabama and moved up the charts with hits like “Song of the South” and “Dixieland Delight.” He was 73 years old.
Cook had Parkinson’s disease and revealed his diagnosis in 2017. He died Tuesday at his home in Destin, Florida, said Don Murray Grubbs, the band’s representative.
Tributes poured in from country stars, including Travis Tritt who called Cook “a great guy and a heckuva bass fisherman.”
As a guitarist, fiddle player, and singer, Cook — along with cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry — had eight No. 1 songs on the country chart between the spring of 1980 and the summer of 1982, according to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Make The run included the pop crossover hits “Love In The First Degree” and “Feels So Right”, as well as “Tennessee River” and “Mountain Music”.
“Jeff Cook, and all the boys from Alabama, were so generous with wisdom and fun when I got to tour with them as a young artist,” Kenny Chesney said in a statement. “He showed a kid in a T-shirt that country music could be rock, could be real, could be someone who looked like me. Growing up in East Tennessee, he made me want to pursue that dream. gave the heart of
The band had a three-year run as CMA Entertainer of the Year from 1982-1985 and earned five ACM Award Entertainer of the Year trophies from 1981-1985. He stopped visiting with Alabama in 2018.
Cook released a handful of solo projects and toured with his all-star Good Time Band. He also released collaborations with Charlie Daniels and “Star Trek” star William Shatner. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005 as a member of Alabama.
Survivors include his wife, Lisa;