Exclusive: Alabama member Jeff Cook reveals Parkinson's diagnosis

[Retro4Life]

http://www.tennessean.com/story/ente...sis/100285618/

Jeff Cook, one-third of Country Music Hall of Fame group Alabama, has Parkinson’s disease, a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement and causes tremors.

Cook, the fiddle player and guitarist for the band, was diagnosed about four years ago. He and his bandmates – Randy Owen (vocals/guitar) and Teddy Gentry (bass) – have kept the diagnosis private until now.

Because of how the disease is impacting his body, Cook is choosing to step back from touring with the group effective April 29.

“This disease robs you of your coordination, your balance, and causes tremors,” Cook wrote in a prepared statement for fans that he read aloud to The Tennessean. “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.”

Cook is planning to play the group’s May 27th concert in Orange Beach, Ala., as well as an upcoming fan event in June. Other than those shows, Cook intends to drop in on the road and sing when he feels like it. However, the majority of the time, his instrumental and vocal parts will be covered by other musicians.

Gentry and Owen stress that Cook’s microphone will always be on stage – regardless of whether he’s there to use it.

“We could hire 10 people, but we can’t replace Jeff Cook in the group Alabama,” said Gentry, tears rolling down his cheeks. “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.”

Since Alabama debuted on a national level in 1980, the group has sold more than 75 million albums and singles, charted 43 No. 1 songs and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The group's biggest hits include "Mountain Music," "Dixieland Delight," "If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band)" and "I'm in a Hurry (and Don't Know Why)."

“At any show when Jeff broke out that fiddle, people were dancing all over the place,” said former Sony Music Nashville chairman Joe Galante. “People just jumped up. His contribution, while he wasn’t front and center all the time, his contributions really made a difference when you listen for the hook. Those are hallmarks of records that will last well beyond our lifetimes.”

Alabama is a three-time Country Music Association entertainer of the year, a five-time Academy of Country Music entertainer of the year and the ACM's Artist of the Decade in 1988.

“We hadn’t had important, popular groups until them,” said country music historian Robert 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.”

When Cook finished reading his statement, Owen reached across the table, took the bottle of water he was struggling to open, popped the lid loose and handed it back.

It was a gesture that spoke volumes: Gentry and Owen have been working to protect Cook for years. When people started speculating that his issues were due to a substance abuse problem, members struggled to continue to keep his secret.

“That’s the part that hurts so bad, for people to think that he’s intoxicated or something,” Owen said. “He’s not, and me and Teddy waited back … we wanted to say a lot of things to these people.

“I did tell one guy one time it was none of his damn business,” Gentry said. “I couldn’t help it.”

Cook’s first clue that there was a problem came when he couldn’t accurately cast his fishing lure anymore. Next he started struggling to hit his guitar notes. Privately, Cook thought he might have a pinched nerve. Owen and Gentry worried that he had suffered a stroke. Cook’s doctor told the guitarist he might have Parkinson’s disease, but when the test results came back and confirmed it, Cook said he felt “empty.”

He told Owen and Gentry immediately. The three of them knew Cook might have to step back – and because they had already faced the possibility of losing a member when Owen was diagnosed with cancer in 2010 – they knew what they would do. The remaining members would keep playing – with Cook’s blessing.

“He wants us to go on,” Owen said. “We want the music to go on. I’m going to be very honest. I don’t know if I have the fire. The only way I do, is knowing that Jeff is totally, ‘Go get it.’

“Go get it,” Cook added, “with witnesses.”

The band holds out hope that Cook’s health will improve and he’ll be able to rejoin them on tour on a regular basis. He still plans to sing with Owen and Gentry in the recording studio.

“If I’m healed overnight, I’ll be at the next show,” Cook said, his medallion from the group's Country Music Hall of Fame induction hanging around his neck. “I do believe in prayer and I’m not giving up.

“Whenever he can come be there, he will,” Owen added. “And I think he will. I believe he will. I don’t see the future, but I feel the future.”