Alabama band member Jeff Cook revealed that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Until today, the fiddle player and guitarist for the legendary Country Music Hall of Fame group and his bandmates kept his disease private.
Cook delivered a prepared statement for The Tennesseean. The note read:
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“This disease robs you of your coordination, your balance, and causes tremors. For me, this has made it extremely frustrating to try and play guitar, fiddle or sing. I’ve tried not to burden anyone with the details of my condition because I do not want the music to stop or the party to end, and that won’t change no matter what. Let me say, I’m not calling it quits but sometimes our bodies dictate what we have to do, and mine is telling me it’s time to take a break and heal.”
On April 29, Cook will be stepping back from touring with the group due to the progressive disease of the nervous system that affects movement and causes tremors.
Jeff Cook will be performing only sparingly when he feels well enough to do so in the future. According to the other band members, Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry, they will always keep a microphone on stage for Cook regardless of whether he makes an appearance or not.
“We could hire 10 people, but we can’t replace Jeff Cook in the group Alabama,” Gentry said. “Like Jeff said, when this is all you’ve ever known and you love the music, you want to see it go on as long as possible. Alabama has surpassed what any of us ever dreamed of, but I still love to play more or as much as I did (yesterday), and I know Jeff does, too.”
As a band, Alabama has sold more than 75 million albums and singles since their national debut back in 1980.
Country music historian Robert Oermann explained how impactful the award-winning group has been over the past few decades.
“We hadn’t had important, popular groups until them,” said Oermann. “Country music was always about solo artists, and I think they capitalized on what the Outlaws had started, which was amassing a youth audience for the genre … Jeff was the instrumental wizard who could do fiddle and guitar.”
Cook concluded his announcement by saying: “If I’m healed overnight, I’ll be at the next show. I do believe in prayer and I’m not giving up.”
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[H/T The Tennesseean]
