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 . Other songs that King wrote or co-wrote for Lynyrd Skynyrd include " Poison Whiskey " , " Saturday Night Special " , " Whiskey Rock-a-Roller " and " Workin ' for MCA " . Guitarist Rossington noted years later that King was the most business-minded member of Lynyrd Skynyrd , relating a story of how King would stock up on food items during stops on tour and then re-sell the items to his bandmates at a 300-400 % markup when they later got hungry on the bus . Band biographer Mark Ribowsky wrote that King was an outsider in Lynyrd Skynyrd to some extent , as he was from Southern California and the only non-Southerner in the lineup , but that it was King who brought a level of professionalism to the fledgling band . King detailed his initial exit from the band in the documentary '' If I Leave Here Tomorrow : A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd '' , saying " Ronnie Van Zant and my guitar roadie who changed my strings were thrown in jail in Ann Arbor . They did n't arrive ... until 10 minutes before we went on . I had to play on old strings and I broke two strings during '' ' Free Bird ' '' . After , Ronnie was riding me , and a lightbulb went off and I said , " That 's it . " I went back to my room , packed up my stuff and left . " 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 . King 's departure in 1975 happened during a particularly difficult tour that the band dubbed the " Torture Tour " , a tour that also claimed drummer and founding member Bob Burns weeks earlier due to a mental breakdown . The band continued with only two guitarists for a few months before discovering Steve Gaines in 1976 . Gaines was killed in a plane crash along with his sister Cassie Gaines and Van Zant on October 20 , 1977
plane crash
1977 Mississippi CV-240 crash
Ed King