Ed King

Edward Calhoun King The band's largest success was with the 1967 single "Incense and Peppermints", which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. While with the band he played both electric guitar and bass guitar.

King's guitar playing and songwriting skills were an essential element of Lynyrd Skynyrd's first three albums: (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd), Second Helping and Nuthin' Fancy. King co-wrote one of the band's most recognizable hits "Sweet Home Alabama", and his voice counted the "one, two, three", before he launched into his famous riff to start the song. King referred to himself as a peaceful "Southern California hippie" and the band's predilection for drunken brawling never sat well with him; the incident which led to his departure was merely the final straw. In 2005, Ed asked Mark Basile, a long time friend, band member and guitarist from New York, to put together the remaining non-touring Skynyrd members, Artimus Pyle, Leslie Hawkins, JoJo Billingsley and Bob Burns for several shows from 2005-2006. That band, called The Saturday Night Special Band, played several shows that can be found on YouTube. Basile also played shows with Dickey Betts and The Atlanta Rhythm Section.

King, along with all pre-crash members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.