September 14

 Ed King

September 14, 1949 – August 22, 2018

Ed King joined the southern rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock as their lead guitarist in 1967. He recorded several albums with the group before they broke up in 1971. He played guitar on their early psychedelic hits and also handled bass guitar on some tracks.

In 1972, he joined Lynyrd Skynyrd as a bassist to replace their previous player for a tour. He soon switched to playing guitar for the band in 1973, giving them a unique three-guitar lineup. He played on their self-titled debut album in 1973 and stayed as an official member until 1975. He co-wrote the hit song Sweet Home Alabama before leaving the group during a tour in 1975. He later rejoined the reformed band in 1987 and continued to tour and record with them until 1996.

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Steve Gaines

September 14, 1949 – October 20, 1977

Steve Gaines joined Lynyrd Skynyrd as their new lead guitarist in 1976. He also sang lead and backing vocals for the group. His sister Cassie was already a backup singer for the band and recommended him for the spot. He made his official recording debut on their live album One More from the Road in 1976.

His guitar playing and songwriting brought fresh creative energy to the group. He co-wrote several tracks and shared lead vocals with Ronnie Van Zant on the song You Got That Right for the studio album Street Survivors in 1977. Before his time with Lynyrd Skynyrd, he played guitar and sang in local bands like Manalive around 1969 and formed a group called Crawdad in 1974. He recorded studio material with Crawdad in 1975 that eventually came out years later on a solo album titled One in the Sun.

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Pete Agnew

September 14, 1946

Pete Agnew formed Nazareth alongside three other founding partners in 1968. He played bass guitar and sang backing vocals for the group. The band released their self-titled debut album in 1971 and achieved major commercial success with their breakout record Hair of the Dog in 1975. He remained an official member of the band for their entire career, continuing to record and tour with them for decades.

He played on a steady stream of annual albums throughout the decade, including Razamanaz in 1973 and Expect No Mercy in 1977. He also performed on the 1979 record No Mean City and the 1980 release Malice in Wonderland. Aside from his work with the group, he occasionally worked as a session player for other recording artists.

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Tony Hooper

September 14, 1939 – November 18, 2020

In 1968, Tony Hooper co-founded the rock band Strawbs. He played acoustic guitar and sang lead and backing vocals for the group. He performed on their early studio records, including their self-titled debut in 1969 and Dragonfly in 1970. He also contributed to the From the Witchwood album in 1971 and Grave New World in 1972.

He left the official lineup in 1972 because the band started moving toward a heavier electric sound. He returned to record and tour with the group from 1983 to 1993. Aside from his main band, he worked as a guest vocalist on a folk album by Peter Bellamy in 1975.

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Paul Kossoff

September 14, 1950 – April 19, 1976

Paul Kossoff became the founding lead guitarist for the rock band Free in 1968. He contributed distinctive blues-style guitar work to their early studio records, including Tons of Sobs in 1968 and Free in 1969. His playing anchored their breakthrough commercial success on the Fire and Water album in 1970. He remained an official member of the group through multiple lineup shifts and played on their final studio release, Heartbreaker, in 1973.

Aside from his main group, he recorded a collaborative album titled Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit in 1972. He also released a solo record called Back Street Crawler in 1973. Following the permanent breakup of Free, he formed a new band named Back Street Crawler in 1975. He played guitar on two studio albums with this lineup, including The Band Plays On in 1975 and 2nd Street in 1976.

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