Jeff Cook, co-founder of the legendary country music band ‘Alabama’ has died.
In a press release issued by Cook’s team, the iconic guitarist and Country Music Hall of Fame member died on Monday at his Destin, Florida home while surrounded by family and close friends.
Cook was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2012 but didn’t go public with his diagnosis until five years later when he announced that he would be taking a break from touring with the band.
Cook and two of his cousins, guitarist Randy Owen and bassist Teddy Gentry, formed a band in the late ’60s before officially co-founding Alabama a decade later. They released three albums in the ’70s — Wild Country, Deuces Wild and Alabama Band No. 3 — that largely flew under the radar before signing to RCA Records to craft their major label debut, 1980’s My Home’s in Alabama.
Tributes poured in from country stars, including Travis Tritt who called Cook “a great guy and one heckuva bass fisherman.”
He is survived by his wife, Lisa.
