Alabama

Now we will cover the country group Alabama.  The group was formed in 1969 in Fort Payne, Alabama.  The members of the band are Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry, Jeff Cook, and Mark Herdon.  Owen, Gentry, and Cook are cousins that first formed the group in 1969 under the name Young Country.  Then when Owen and Cook went to college, the group took a break.  In 1972 the group reformed under the name Wildcountry and in 1973, the group decided to make singing a professional career.  They mostly kept performing in South Carolina.  Within the next few years, they changed the name to Alabama, added Herndon to the group, and moved on to Nashville.  Owen is the lead vocals for the group, Gentry plays the bass guitar and sings background vocals, Cook plays the guitar, fiddle, and keyboards, and Herndon plays the drums.  The group performed from 1972 till 2002, when the group did their Farewell Tour and retired from touring, but recorded two new albums in 2006 and 2007.

Alabama has released many albums in their career.  Their first album was My Home’s in Alabama, which was released in 1980. After that, they started releasing an album each year.  Alabama has released 23 studio albums, 2 live albums, and 8 compilation albums.  Their last album released was Playlist: The Very Best of Alabama in 2008. 

Alabama has also released many singles to the radio.  Their first single released to radio was "I Want to Be with You Tonight" in 1977.  Since then, Alabama has released many songs to radio and quite a few of those songs have made it to the top of the country charts.  Alabama’s first number one single was "Tennessee River" in 1980.   Alabama had 33 number one singles.  I do remember most of their songs and have to say that they were a good group.  It would have been fun to see them in concert, but maybe they will have another tour again.  Some groups have come out of retirement to do a reunion tour.