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Jeff Cook, one of the founding members of the beloved country band Alabama, has died. He was 73.
Cook died at his home in Destin, Florida, a representative for Alabama confirmed to the Nashville-based Tennessean on Tuesday afternoon (November 8). He’d been battling Parkinson’s disease for nearly a decade, and publicly revealed his ongoing struggles with the disorder in 2017, per the report. Soon afterward, the band confirmed Cook’s death on their social media channels, along with an obituary in his memory.
Cook, a vocalist, guitar and fiddle player, was born on August 27, 1949 in Fort Payne, Alabama. He died on Monday (November 7), “with his family and close friends by his side at his beach home in Destin, Florida. …Cook was a champion in all he attempted and he courageously faced his battle with a positive attitude.”
Cook realized his love of music early, beginning to play the lead guitar and keyboards in bands when he was 13 years old. He started working as a disc jockey at a Fort Payne radio station shortly after he turned 14, and his love of “music and electronics” only continued to grow, according to the statement shared by the band on Tuesday. It also notes his strides in music: “Cook is credited for introducing the electric double neck guitar to country music. He was also an accomplished musician with the ability to play piano, guitar, fiddle, bass guitar, banjo, mandolin and anything else thrown in front of him.”
“Cook's iconic guitar licks, unique fiddle style, exceptional vocals and harmony, along with his bandmates, went on to sell 80 million albums and charted 43 No. 1 hits, becoming the biggest group in the history of the country genre.”
He founded the band, a trio of cousins, with Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry. The musicians spent “six long years of tip jars and word of mouth to earn the major label deal they’d been dreaming of, but then seemingly no time at all to change the face of country music,” playing throughout the summer at a bar called The Bowery in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, reads the band’s bio. Now, they’ve been playing music for more than five decades, releasing classic country anthems like “Dixieland Delight,” “I’m in a Hurry,” “My Home’s in Alabama,” and many, many others. Alabama celebrated 21 straight No. 1 singles, millions of album sales and more, and are now members of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Cook is also a member of the Musicians Hall of Fame, Fiddlers Hall of Fame and Gibson's Guitarist of the Year, according to his obituary shared by the band.
“Jeff Cook spent a lifetime in music, earning a license as a broadcast engineer before he was old enough to drive a car and working as an on-air radio personality while still in high school,” Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. “He went on to fame, of course, with cousins Teddy Gentry and Randy Owen as a member of multi-platinum band Alabama, moving from barroom stages to sold-out arenas. Everything he did was rooted in his deep love of music, a love he shared with millions.”
Cook stopped touring with Alabama in 2018 because of his health, though he encouraged the band to continue performing because he never wanted “the music to stop or the party to end,” the band’s obituary noted of the legendary co-founder.
Joe Galante, a former industry executive who “helped steer the careers” of legendary artists, including Alabama, told the Tennessean in 2017 that while Cook “wasn’t front and center all the time, his contributions really made a difference when you listen for the hook.”
Alabama was one of several artists — along with Miranda Lambert and Kenny Chesney — to perform a tribute to Galante when he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame last month, along with Keith Whitley and Jerry Lee Lewis. Alabama performed “My Home’s in Alabama” during the heartfelt ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee. Galante previously said of Cook’s contributions to the beloved band, per the Tennesseean: “Those are hallmarks of records that will last well beyond our lifetimes.”
Cook is survived by his wife, Lisa, his mother, Betty, his brother, David, Crystal, father-in-law Jerrial Williams, brother-in-law Randy Williams, nieces and nephews, and “beloved puppies Blazer and Blakely.” He was preceded in death by his father, James, and his mother-in-law, JoAnn Williams. In leiu of flowers, the family as asked for donations to be made to the Jeff and Lisa Cook Foundation, which started last year as a way to “bring people together to help educate and supply resources which would enable people to better help themselves and each other,” following Cook’s battle with Parkinson’s disease. Plans for Cook’s celebration of life will be announced at a later date.
“Jeffrey Alan Cook will always be thankful for his loving family, many close friends and especially... his FANS.”