Former Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist and “Sweet Home Alabama” co-writer Ed King has passed away at the age of 68.
King died last night in his Nashville home after a brave battle against cancer.
King played with Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1972-1975 and 1987-1996. He is responsible for what may be the band’s most popular song of all time. King’s voice can be heard counting off the “one, two, three…” that begins the song below.
“Ronnie [Van Zant] wrote the lyrics and Ed [King] and I wrote the music,” explained Gary Rossington in an 2015 “Garden and Gun” interview.
“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t “know” the intro lick to ‘Sweet Home Alabama,’ said guitarist Andrew Michael Sovine in an interview. “If that was all (King) was known for I think that would be worth remembering, but all of his work with Skynyrd was just amazing…as a guitarist I don’t think he ever got the credit he was due. The music he wrote really was the soundtrack of a generation or two.”
King was also a founding member of the psychedelic rock group Strawberry Alarm Clock.