Ed King was a guitarist for the psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock and guitarist and bassist for the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1972 to 1975 and again from 1987 to 1996.
15 Facts About Ed King
2.
Ed King was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, California.
3.
Ed King was one of the founding members of the LA-based Strawberry Alarm Clock, a mid-1960s pop psychedelic rock band.
4.
Ed King opted to remain in the South, inspired by an up-and-coming band called Lynyrd Skynyrd.
5.
Ed King met the members of what was to become the Jacksonville, Florida-based Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd when an earlier incarnation of the band known as The One Percent opened for Strawberry Alarm Clock in early 1968.
6.
Ed 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.
7.
Wilkeson soon regretted leaving and rejoined the band, and Ed King switched to lead guitar, creating with Allen Collins and Gary Rossington the triple-guitar attack that became the band's signature sound.
8.
Ed King's guitar playing and songwriting skills were an essential element of Lynyrd Skynyrd's first three albums:, Second Helping and Nuthin' Fancy.
9.
Ed 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.
10.
Band biographer Mark Ribowsky wrote that Ed 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 Ed King who brought a level of professionalism to the fledgling band.
11.
Ed King was one of the guitarists in the reunited Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1987, and played a major role.
12.
Ed King had to leave the band again in 1996 because of congestive heart failure.
13.
Ed King's guitar playing influenced many subsequent musicians, including Metallica bassist Cliff Burton.
14.
Ed King died in his Nashville, Tennessee, home on August 22,2018, at 68 years of age.
15.
Ed King's death was announced through his personal Facebook page.