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In an interview with Gary James, King recounted writing Sweet Home Alabama with Van Zant, who died, along with the band members Steven and Cassie Gaines and the band’s road manager Dean Kilpatrick, in a 1977 plane crash. King’s exit from the band shortly after the release of Nuthin’ Fancy is detailed in the documentary If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd, released this year. Read the band’s statement about Ed King’s death.In a 2006 photo, members of Lynyrd Skynyrd appear backstage after being inducted at the annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dinner in New York.Mark Weitz NAILED it.”Įd King died at his home in Nashville on Aug. I think his parents wouldn’t let him join the band! ‘Mr. The guys play better than ever and the addition of Steve Bartek makes it now the way it should’ve been. “I wish I lived closer so I could take part. “The album is a labor of love,” King said in May 2012. He retired from the music business, but wished he played on the Strawberry Alarm Clock’s new album, the band’s first in more than 40 years: In 2006, King entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
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In 1987, King joined the Lynyrd Skynyrd survivors reunion tour and played with the band until health problems forced him out in 1996. That was two years before the fatal plane crash that claimed the life of Ronnie Van Zant and other two other members of the band. Other Skynyrd songs co-written by King include “Saturday Night Special,” “Swamp Music,” “I Need You,” “Workin’ for MCA” and “Railroad Song.” He formed a songwriting partnership with singer Ronnie Van Zant, which produced “Poison Whisky” on that album and then later “Sweet Home Alabama,” one of the band’s two signature songs. Strawberry Alarm Clock in 1969 with Ed King, right.King started out playing bass and then switched to guitar. That band was Lynyrd Skynyrd, which was heading into the studio to record its first album with producer Al Kooper. King stayed with the band until 1972, when he took a flyer and joined a Southern rock band that had opened for the Strawberry Alarm Clock on a regional tour. Carl Wilson coming over to my room to show me the chords to ‘God Only Knows’ far outweighs any Skynyrd experience.” King says, “The (SAC) tours with the Beach Boys in ’67 and ’68 outshine any other period in my life. SAC songs that King co-wrote include “Sit With the Guru,” “The Black Butter Trilogy,” “Pretty Song From Psych-Out” and “Soft Skies, No Lies.” King continued to write songs with Weitz as well as guitarist Lee Freeman. Once again, King came to the rescue with a bridge. He and Weitz collaborated again on “Tomorrow,” which charted at No. and Ed King at 2007 film festival reunion. Teammates: SAC keyboardist Mark Weitz, left. “We were told that was the price we had to pay to get started in the business,” King recalled in an interview with Classic Rock Revival a few years back. 1 in 1967 and remains a rock-pop radio staple to this day.Ĭredit for “Incense and Peppermints” went to a songwriting team that worked with the publisher. The single’s songwriting credits notoriously failed to note their role in creating the song, but “Incense and Peppermints” hit No.
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He drove over, and about 45 minutes later we had it.” I called him and told him I need a bridge for this new song idea I’m working on. Weitz tells the story: “I couldn’t figure out a bridge for the song. King contributed the bridge to the then-instrumental.
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He and keyboardist Mark Weitz wrote the music for the smash hit “Incense and Peppermints,” starting with a memorable riff dreamed up by Weitz. (Read King’s fan forum thread about the psychedelic group.) King caught lightning in a bottle twice: First as a co-founder of the hitmaking Strawberry Alarm Clock and then as a member of the Southern rock giants Lynyrd Skynyrd.Īs a teenager, King was a founding member of Thee Sixpence, the high school group that transformed itself into the Strawberry Alarm Clock. “I am the luckiest guitar player on Earth,” Ed King declared. Ed: Touring in ’68 and ’69 was a highlight of my life