Guitarist and co-founder of Alabama Jeff Cook passed away at age 73
According to Alabama’s representative, Don Murry Grubbs, original member Jeff Cook has passed away. He was 73.
After a brief illness, Cook passed away on Monday at his vacation home in Destin, Florida “with his family and close friends by his side,” according to a press release and a statement shared on the band’s social media accounts. According to the statement, Cook got a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in 2012.
Cook was a co-founder of Alabama and the band’s guitarist. He also played the fiddle and other instruments. His “introduction of the electric double neck guitar to country music” is credited in a statement.
Not only is he a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Fiddlers Hall of Fame, but he was also inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville in 2019.
Cook, while performing with Alabama, sold 80 million albums and had 43 top-ten singles during his career.
The group received 13 nominations and won two times, for best country performance by a duo or group with vocal for “Mountain Music” and “The Closer You Get” in 1983 and 1984.
His mother Betty, his brother David, and his wife of 27 years, Lisa Cook, all survive the Fort Payne, Alabama native.