George McCorkle, 60; wrote Southern rock hit ‘Fire on the Mountain’
George McCorkle, 60, a founding member of the Marshall Tucker Band who wrote the Southern rock favorite “Fire on the Mountain,” died Friday at a hospital in Lebanon, Tenn. He had recently been diagnosed with cancer.
McCorkle wrote “Fire on the Mountain” in hopes it would be included on longtime friend Charlie Daniels’ album of the same name. When Daniels didn’t use it, the Marshall Tucker Band put it on the album “Searching For A Rainbow” in 1975.
“Fire on the Mountain” became the Tucker band’s first Top 40 hit single and remains one of the most popular songs in Southern rock.
McCorkle quit the band in 1984, moved to Tennessee in the 1990s and began working full-time as a songwriter.
He also played with the Renegades of Southern Rock, a band made up of original members of Wet Willie, the Outlaws and other groups.
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