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Jeff Cook dinner, the nation music legend who co-founded the band Alabama, died Monday after a decade-long battle with Parkinson's illness. He was 73.
A consultant from the band confirmed his dying to The Tennessean on Tuesday, including that Cook dinner died surrounded by relations at his beachside dwelling in Destin, Florida.
Together with cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry, Alabama modified the face of nation music within the Seventies and ‘80s, and offered greater than 80 million albums.
The group amassed greater than 40 No. 1 hits, together with “She and I,” “Mountain Music” and “Tennessee River.”
Alabama musicians Jeff Cook dinner, Teddy Gentry and Randy Owen in 2011.
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Cook dinner was Alabama’s lead guitarist for greater than 5 many years, however would additionally recurrently play the fiddle, keyboard and sing backup vocals to the band’s easy melodies.
A local of Fort Payne, Alabama, he started chasing a profession in music as a disc jockey in his hometown in 1969. From there, he co-founded the band Younger Nation alongside Owen and Gentry, which planted the seeds for Alabama to be shaped in 1977.
Already inducted into the Nation Music Corridor of Fame, Cook dinner and Alabama performed collectively up till his closing days, when the star ultimately conceded his physique wasn’t permitting him to carry out the best way he used to.
Cook dinner was recognized with Parkinson’s illness in 2012, however saved the prognosis beneath wraps from the general public till 2017. His appearances with the group turned much less frequent, with Cook dinner telling Alabama TV station Information 19 in 2017: “I’m not calling it quits, however generally our our bodies dictate what we've to do, and mine is telling me it’s time to take a break and heal.”
Social media was flooded with tributes as soon as Cook dinner’s dying turned public on Tuesday afternoon. Jason Aldean, a rustic star in his personal proper, mentioned Cook dinner and Alabama had an iconic sound he'll always remember.
“I spent a number of my life listening to him play guitar, what an iconic sound he had,” Aldean tweeted Tuesday. “I obtained an opportunity to carry out with him a number of instances through the years and I'll always remember it.”
One other nation star, Travis Tritt, posted a tribute of his personal.
“Such a terrific man and one heckuva bass fisherman,” Tritt posted. “He might be really missed.”