What is Ed King's Net Worth?
Ed King was an American musician who had a net worth of $10 million at the time of his death in 2018. Ed King was best known as the guitarist and bassist of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He played with the original band from 1972 to 1975, and again with the reformed band from 1987 to 1996. Lynyrd Skynyrd formed in 1964 and was named after the members' high school gym teacher Leonard Skinner. Their signature songs include "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird". Ed King wrote or co-wrote many of the band's hits. They released their debut studio album (Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd) in 1973. The band's first two albums were certified 2x Platinum. Other Skynyrd hits included "I Ain't the One", "Tuesday's Gone", "Gimme Three Steps", and "Simple Man". Ed King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Unfortunately Ed King died on August 22, 2018 at the age of 68 in his Nashville, Tennessee home. He had been battling cancer for a number of months prior to his death.
Earlier in his career, King was the guitarist of the psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock. Strawberry Alarm Clock released their debut studio album, "Incense and Peppermints" in 1967. That album reached #11 on the US chart. They also released the albums "Wake Up…It's Tomorrow" (1968), "The World in a Sea Shell" (1968) "Good Morning Starshine" (1969), and "Wake Up Where You Are" (2012).
Early Life
Ed King was born on September 14, 1949 in Glendale, California to Marjorie and Edward.
Strawberry Alarm Clock
In 1967, King was among the founding members of the psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock, which evolved out of the combination of the bands Thee Sixpence and Waterfyrd Traene. The group had its greatest commercial success with the single "Incense and Peppermints," which made it to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. With Strawberry Alarm Clock, King played both the electric guitar and bass guitar. The popularity of the band declined in the 1970s, and due to internal conflicts and the loss of its recording contract, Strawberry Alarm Clock dissolved in early 1972.
Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1972-1975
In 1968, King met the members of a Southern rock band called the One Percent, which had opened for Strawberry Alarm Clock. He was so impressed by the group that he offered his services to frontman Ronnie Van Zant. The One Percent was eventually renamed Lynyrd Skynyrd, and in 1972 King became the band's new bassist after the departure of Leon Wilkeson. However, Wilkeson soon returned, and King was switched to lead guitar. With bandmates Allen Collins and Gary Rossington, he created the triple-guitar attack that would become Lynyrd Skynyrd's defining sound.
King played an integral role as both a guitarist and songwriter on the band's first three albums, starting with the debut, "(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)." From the band's second album, "Second Helping," he co-wrote the smash hit "Sweet Home Alabama," one of Lynyrd Skynyrd's signature songs. King also wrote or co-wrote such songs as "Poison Whiskey," "Saturday Night Special," and "Workin' for MCA." He ultimately left the band in 1975 during a particularly arduous tour known as the "Torture Tour," which also saw the departure of founding member Bob Burns due to a mental breakdown. King felt increasingly out of place in Lynyrd Skynyrd, as he was the only non-Southerner in the group. He was replaced by guitarist Steve Gaines.
Getty Images
Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1987-1996
Lynyrd Skynyrd's career trajectory was suddenly halted in October of 1977 when the group's chartered airplane crashed, killing Van Zant, Gaines, and Gaines's sister Cassie, and severely injuring the other bandmates. The group reunited a decade later for a reunion tour with Van Zant's brother Johnny as the frontman. King served as one of the guitarists in the reformed Lynyrd Skynyrd, and played a major role both on tours and in the recording of the albums "Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991," "The Last Rebel," and "Endangered Species." Ultimately, however, he had to leave the band for a second time when he had congestive heart failure in 1996. King and the rest of the pre-airplane crash members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.
Other Appearances
King appeared in the documentary film "If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd." Beyond Lynyrd Skynyrd, he appeared on television in the Discovery Channel docudrama "Moonshiners" in 2017. On the show, he appeared as a customer purchasing $30,000 worth of premium gin.
Personal Life and Death
Having struggled with health issues for many years, King successfully underwent a heart transplant in 2011. Later in the decade, after a battle with cancer in 2018, he passed away at his home in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 68.
