Jeff Cook is an American musician best known for playing guitar and other instruments in the band Alabama, which he was a part of. He attended Jacksonville State University and was a graduate of Fort Payne High School in Alabama.
A representative for the band announced that Cook passed away on Monday at his home in Destin, Florida, after a protracted struggle with Parkinson’s disease.
The renowned guitarist revealed his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease in 2017 after fighting it for almost ten years.
10 Years After Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis, Jeff Cook Passed Away At Age 73
The band claims that Cook passed away on Monday in Destin, Florida, after a protracted struggle with Parkinson’s illness.
Cook, a band member who plays fiddle and guitar, officially disclosed his diagnosis in 2017 and stated he will no longer be routinely performing with the group.
Cook claimed that the long-term neurological condition causes tremors that made it challenging for him to play his instruments, but he was determined to continue making music.
He claimed that he was staying with the group but would only occasionally tour with them in order to rest.
With classics like “Love in the First Degree,” “Mountain Music,” and “Dixieland Delight,” the band dominated country music in the 1980s. Along with his cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry, Cook was one of the band’s original members, helping the multi-platinum group get started.
The group won five ACM Award Entertainer of the Year awards between 1981 and 1985, and they held the title of CMA Entertainer of the Year for three consecutive years, from 1982 to 1985.
Cook performed with his All-Star Goodtime Band on tour and released a few solo albums. Along with William Shatner and Charlie Daniels, he also collaborated on albums. He was inducted into Alabama’s Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005. His wife Lisa is one of his survivors.
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In April Jeff Cook Reveals He Has Parkinson’s Disease
Longtime Alabama member Jeff Cook suffers from Parkinson’s disease. The vocalist and fiddler discovered the diagnosis four years ago, but they only recently told their fans on Tuesday (April 11).
Cook read from a prepared statement while Alabama’s Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry sat next to him in the audience. Cook has announced that he will stop performing with the band on April 29. He has found it to be too frustrating to continue playing due to a combination of balance and coordination issues as well as tremors.
“I’ve tried not to burden anyone with the details of my condition because I do not want the music to stop or the party to end,” Cook explains. “Let me say, I’m not calling it quits but sometimes our bodies dictate what we have to do, and mine is telling me it’s time to take a break and heal.”
He will continue to attend Alabama concerts and occasionally perform, but for the most part, another musician will be in charge of the instruments and the singing. If he’s not there, his microphone will still be on the stage, according to Gentry and Owen.
Cook says if he healed, he’d be back with the band full-time tomorrow, and for their part, Owen and Gentry are holding out hope that will happen soon. “Whenever he can come to be there, he will,” Owen says. “And I think he will. I believe he will. I don’t see the future, but I feel the future.”
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Final Words
One of the founding members of Alabama, Jeff Cook, passed away at the age of 73. A band representative announced that Cook passed away on Monday at his home in Destin, Florida, after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease.
Cook, the band’s guitarist, and fiddle player stated in 2017 that he had been diagnosed with cancer and would no longer be actively performing with the group.
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