Ed King (mayor)
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Edward Calhoun King (September 14, 1949 – August 22, 2018) was an American musician. He was a guitarist for the
psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
band Strawberry Alarm Clock and guitarist and bassist for the Southern rock band
Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Ju ...
from 1972 to 1975 and again from 1987 to 1996.


Strawberry Alarm Clock

King was born in the Los Angeles suburb of
Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...
. He was one of the founding members of the LA-based Strawberry Alarm Clock, a mid-1960s pop
psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
band. The band's largest success was with the 1967 single " Incense and Peppermints", which reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. While with the band he played both electric guitar and bass guitar. The band's popularity waned considerably in the early 1970s. Faced with the loss of their recording contract with Uni Records and with internal conflicts over musical direction, Strawberry Alarm Clock disbanded in early 1972. King opted to remain in the South, inspired by an up-and-coming band called Lynyrd Skynyrd.


Lynyrd Skynyrd

King met the members of what was to become the Jacksonville, Florida-based Southern rock band
Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Ju ...
when an earlier incarnation of the band known as The One Percent opened for Strawberry Alarm Clock in early 1968. King was so enamoured with the band that he told vocalist and leader Ronnie Van Zant that if they ever needed his services, he would be happy to join. It was not until 1972 when bassist Leon Wilkeson left the band that Van Zant took King up on his offer and asked him to join Skynyrd as the band's new bassist. Wilkeson soon regretted leaving and rejoined the band, and King switched to lead guitar, creating with Allen Collins and
Gary Rossington Gary Robert Rossington (born December 4, 1951) is an American guitarist. He is the only remaining original member of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, in which he plays lead and rhythm guitar. In 2009, he became the last original member to re ...
the triple-guitar attack that became the band's signature sound. The band referred to this unique new setup with King as the "Three Guitar Army".If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd, Passion Pictures, Directed by Stephen Kijak, 2018 King's guitar playing and songwriting skills were an essential element of Lynyrd Skynyrd's first three albums: ''
(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) ''(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)'' is the debut album by American rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released in 1973. Several of the album's songs remain among the band's most well-known: "Gimme Three Steps", " Simple Man", "Tuesday's Gone", a ...
'', ''
Second Helping ''Second Helping'' is the second studio album by Lynyrd Skynyrd, released April 15, 1974. It features the band's biggest hit single, "Sweet Home Alabama," an answer song to Neil Young's "Alabama" and " Southern Man", which reached #8 on the ''Bi ...
'' and ''
Nuthin' Fancy ''Nuthin' Fancy'' is the third studio album by the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released in March 1975. It was their first to reach the top 10, peaking at number 9 on the U.S. album chart. It was certified gold on June 27, 1975, and platin ...
''. King co-wrote one of the band's most recognizable hits " Sweet Home Alabama", and his voice counted the "one, two, three", before he launched into his famous riff to start the song. Other songs that King wrote or co-wrote for Lynyrd Skynyrd include "Poison Whiskey", " Saturday Night Special", "Whiskey Rock-a-Roller" and "Workin' for MCA". Guitarist Rossington noted years later that King was the most business-minded member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, relating a story of how King would stock up on food items during stops on tour and then re-sell the items to his bandmates at a 500% markup when they later got hungry on the bus. Band biographer Mark Ribowsky wrote that King was an outsider in Lynyrd Skynyrd to some extent, as he was from Southern California and the only non-Southerner in the lineup, but that it was King who brought a level of professionalism to the fledgling band. King detailed his initial exit from the band in the documentary ''If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd'', saying "Ronnie
an Zant An, AN, aN, or an may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Airlinair (IATA airline code AN) * Alleanza Nazionale, a former political party in Italy * AnimeNEXT, an annual anime convention located in New Jersey * Anime North, a Canadian an ...
and my guitar roadie who changed my strings were thrown in jail in Ann Arbor. They didn't arrive...until 10 minutes before we went on. I had to play on old strings and I broke two strings during "Free Bird". After, Ronnie was riding me, and a lightbulb went off and I said, "That's it." I went back to my room, packed up my stuff and left." King referred to himself as a peaceful "Southern California hippie" and the band's predilection for drunken brawling never sat well with him; the incident which led to his departure was merely the final straw. King's departure in 1975 happened during a particularly difficult tour that the band dubbed the "Torture Tour", a tour that also claimed drummer and founding member Bob Burns weeks earlier due to a mental breakdown. The band continued with only two guitarists for a few months before discovering
Steve Gaines Steven Earl Gaines (September 14, 1949 – October 20, 1977) was an American musician. He is best known as a guitarist and backing vocalist with rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1976 until his death in the October 1977 airplane crash that claime ...
in 1976. Gaines was killed in a plane crash along with his sister Cassie Gaines and Van Zant on October 20, 1977. Coincidentally, Steve Gaines was born on the same day as King, September 14, 1949. King was one of the guitarists in the reunited Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1987, and played a major role. He had to leave the band again in 1996 because of congestive heart failure. In 2005, Ed asked Mark Basile, a long time friend and guitarist from New York, to put together the remaining non-touring Skynyrd members, Artimus Pyle, Leslie Hawkins, JoJo Billingsley and Bob Burns for several shows from 2005-2006. That band, called The Saturday Night Special Band, played several shows that can be found on YouTube. King, along with all pre-crash members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
in 2006. His guitar playing influenced many subsequent musicians, including
Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
bassist Cliff Burton.


Personal life

In 2011, King underwent a successful heart transplant. In 2017, he appeared as a customer in the
Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...
docudrama '' Moonshiners'', buying $30,000 worth of premium
gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink that derives its flavour from juniper berries (''Juniperus communis''). Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe, particularly in southern Italy, Flanders and the Ne ...
. According to a Nashville news station WTVF, King had been battling cancer in the months prior to his death. King died in his Nashville, Tennessee, home on August 22, 2018, at 68 years of age. His death was announced through his personal Facebook page. Following King's death, former Lynyrd Skynyrd bandmate Rossington released a statement saying, "Ed was our brother, and a great songwriter and guitar player. I know he will be reunited with the rest of the boys in Rock and Roll Heaven. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Ed 1949 births 2018 deaths Lynyrd Skynyrd members American rock guitarists American male guitarists American lead guitarists Musicians from Glendale, California Guitarists from California 20th-century American guitarists Kidney transplant recipients Strawberry Alarm Clock members American blues rock musicians