Jeff Cook, a country musician who co-founded the country rock band Alabama, passed away on Monday at the age of 73.
A Tuesday news release announced that Cook passed with his family and close friends by his side at his coastal property in Destin, Florida.
“Jeffrey Alan Cook: 1949 – 2022,” Alabama posted on their Twitter account alongside a red heart.
The news comes eight years after the country performer was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which he publicly revealed in 2017.
“Just remember, life is good and as long as you’re breathing…there’s ‘No Bad Days,’” he wrote, quoting his own lyrics.
Cook was born in Fort Payne, Alabama, and had a lengthy history in radio, obtaining his broadcast engineer license at age 14 and getting hired as DJ at a local station.
The multi-instrumentalist and singer first fronted the band Wildcountry with his cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry in 1972. That group became Alabama in 1977. He also made a return to radio when he founded Cook Sound Studios Inc. in his hometown, and he also established radio station WQRX-AM in Valley Head, Alabama.
After the group initially ceased touring in 2004, he formed Cook & Glenn and the Allstar Goodtime Band and would perform as Alabama until his Parkinson’s diagnosis. The group last played together in 2018.
Alabama won the CMA Entertainer of the Year award for three consecutive years from 1982 to 1985. Their catalog includes hits like “Song of the South,” “Dixieland Delight,” “I’m in a Hurry (And Don’t Know Why)” and “Mountain Music.” Cook himself was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
He also co-wrote the band’s song “No Bad Days” in 2015, which he took in a different light when he got his Parkinson’s diagnosis.
“After I got the Parkinson’s diagnosis, people would quote the song to me and say, ‘No bad days,’” he told The Tennessean in 2019. “They write me letters, notes and emails and they sign ‘No Bad Days.’ I know the support is there. They join me. People I don’t know come up to me and say, ‘How ya feeling?’ You just got to live it every day and take it as it comes. Prayer does work. And I know there was a lot of praying going on.”
Members of the band Alabama celebrated their 50th anniversary this year.
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