Ed King

Ed's bio come from his official site www.Ed-king.com

Ed King was born Sept 14th, 1949 in Glendale Calif. He began playing at age 12. Ed initially wanted drums but they too expensive for his parents so he settled for guitar. His first guitar was a rented Stella Acoustic which he claims was "Hard" to play. At age 18 he had his first "breakthrough" when his band "The Strawberry Alarm Clock" had a # 1 hit, "Incense & Peppermint" . It was while he was with "The Strawberry Alarm Clock" that he met up with "Lynyrd Skynyrd". An upcoming rock band out of Jacksonville Fla.

After a couple years had gone by he was asked to join "Lynyrd Skynyrd " on bass as Leon Wilkeson had decided to quit. In 1973 things began to come together for the band as they were discovered by Al Kooper. As a result, "Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-erd started the band on its rise to stardom.

Ronnie took Ed to the side & told him he was the worst bassist he ever heard & persuaded him to switch to guitar. Ed agreed & Ronnie persuaded Leon Wilkeson to join them again on bass. In April "74" the album entitled "Second Helping"
came out with its hit "Sweet Home Alabama" which would be the biggest of Lynyrd Skynyrds career.

As the pressures of the road increased, heavy partying took its toll. The band found their creativity at an all time low.

After a gruelling European tour & the release of "Nuthin Fancy" Ed began to feel the strain of the scheduled tour aptly named the "Torture Tour" . He expressed his concern of the way things were going & on May 26th, Ed decided to quit.

As the Tenth anniversary of the Skynyrd plane crash approached, various members of the band had been discussing putting Skynyrd back together for a Tribute Tour. Ed was asked to come back and take up his original role alongside Gary Rossington and Randall Hall on guitars, Billy Powell (piano), Leon Wilkeson (Bass), Artimus Pyle (Drums) and filling the spot of Ronnie Van Zant would be his brother Johnny.

The tour had generated such a huge response from both the fans and media, it seemed a shame to suddenly end it after the tour had finished.

The band signed with Atlantic Records in 1990, and recorded their comeback album"Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991". Again a successful tour followed and Skynyrd were back on the map. In 1993 "The Last Rebel" was released and saw the band recapture the original Skynyrd spirit.

In 1996 Ed had congestive heart failure, and was told he'd need a transplant, due to this he left the band.

Ed appeared on former Skynyrd guitarist Mike Estes NASCAR themed album "Drivin' Sideways".

In 1998 he started a project entitled "The Bonnie Blue Band" along with Charlie Hargrett (Blackfoot), Roy Yeager (Atlanta Rhythm Section), Banner Thomas (Molly Hatchet), Jeff Carlisi (38 Special) and Jimmy Hall. Unfortunately the project never really got started.

On June 14th 2003, Ed appeared at "The Winters Brothers" annual Southern Summer Jam in Nolensville, Tennessee. He played alongside Michael Buffalo Smith on an acoustic set and later jammed with The Winters Brothers.

Ed is doing well living in Nashville & taking things easy with his wife Sharon.