Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Ed King (1949-2018) remembered

Ed King

Born in California, Edward Calhoun King (September 14, 1949 – August 22, 2018) played guitar and bass with psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock from 1967-1971, scoring a #1 hit with the title track off of their debut album “Incense and Peppermints”. King and fellow band member Mark Weitz were sadly denied songwriting credits despite the song being built on an instrumental idea of theirs.

King also played on a 1969 reworked version of “Strictly From Hunger!”, the previous year’s debut from the Portland band Hunger! Released in 1998, the Ed King version is now available under the title “The Lost Album”.

Ed King

After four albums with Strawberry Alarm Clock, King joined the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, originally on bass but later as part of their classic triple-guitar line-up. He remained with the band from 1972 to 1975, leaving two years before the fatal flight crash which robbed the world of his replacement Steve Gaines and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant.

King played on Skynyrd’s first three albums and co-wrote the tracks “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Workin’ for MCA”, “Swamp Music”, “Saturday Night Special”, “Railroad Song”, “Poison Whiskey” and “Whiskey Rock-a-Roller”.

The song “One More Time” off of “Street Survivors” (1977) is from their 1971 Muscle Shoals demo and thus also features Ed King on bass. This song along with several others featuring King is also included on “Skynyrd’s First: The Complete Muscle Shoals Album”, the 1998 CD which expands on the 1978 compilation “Skynyrd’s First and…Last”.

King was also a member of the reunited Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1987 to 1996. He left due to congestive heart failure and later underwent a successful heart transplant in 2011. In the months prior to his death, however, he had been battling lung cancer. King was 68 at his passing.

Lynyrd Skynyrd member Gary Rossington has 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.”

Strawberry Alarm Clock albums with Ed King:
1967 Incense and Peppermints
1968 Wake Up…It’s Tomorrow
1968 The World in a Sea Shell
1969 Good Morning Starshine

Hunger! album with Ed King:
1998 Hunger! a.k.a. “The Lost Album” (recorded in 1969)

Lynyrd Skynyrd albums with Ed King:
1973 (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd)
1974 Second Helping
1975 Nuthin’ Fancy’
1978 Skynyrd’s First and… Last (recordings from 1971-72)
1991 Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991
1993 The Last Rebel
1994 Endangered Species
1998 Skynyrd’s First: The Complete Muscle Shoals Album (expanded recordings from 1971-72)