Southern rock titan Gregg Allman dies
He was a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, which inspired Southern rock and jamband movements.
Gregg AllSAVANNAH, GA. — man, a survivor of tragedy, knew the blues musically and in a painfully personal way.
Raised by a single mother after his father was shot to death, he idolized his guitar-slinging older brother Duane and became his musi- cal partner. They formed the nucleus of The Allman Brothers Band, which helped define the Southern rock sound of the 1970s.
Their songs such as “Whip- ping Post,” “Ramblin’ Man” and “Midnight Rider” laid the foundation for the genre and opened the doors for groups like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Marshall Tucker Band.
Gregg Allman, whose bluesy vocals and soulful touch on the Hammond B-3 organ helped propel the Allman Brothers Band to superstardom, died Saturday. He was 69. Allman died peacefully
and surrounded by loved ones at his home near Savannah, Ga., said his manager, Michael Lehman. He said Allman succumbed to cancer.
“It’s a result of his recurrence of liver cancer that had come back five years ago,” Lehman said. “He kept it very private because he wanted to
continue to play music until he couldn’t.” Allman played his last
concert in October before health problems forced him to cancel other 2016 shows. He announced Aug. 5 that he was “under his doctor’s care at the Mayo Clinic” due to “serious health issues.” Later that year, he canceled more dates, citing a throat injury. In March, he canceled performances for the rest of 2017.
Born in Nashville, Tenn., the rock star known for his long blond hair was raised in Florida.
In his 2012 memoir, “My Cross to Bear,” Allman described how his older brother was a central figure in his life in the years after their father was murdered by a man he met in a bar. The two boys endured a spell in a military school before being swept up in rock music in their teens. Although Gregg was the first to pick up a gui- tar, it was Duane who excelled at it. So Gregg switched to the organ.
They spent years in bands together, but failed to achieve success until they formed
The Allman Brothers Band in 1969. It featured extended jams, tight guitar harmonies by Duane Allman and Dickey Betts, rhythms from a pair of drummers and the smoky, blues-inflected voice of Gregg Allman.
Based in Macon, Ga., the group also had drummers Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson and Butch Trucks and bassist Berry Oakley. They reached the pinnacle of the burgeon- ing music scene, partying to excess while defining a sound that still excites millions.
Duane Allman had quickly ascended to the pantheon of guitar heroes. But he was killed in a motorcycle accident in October 1971, just months after recording the Fillmore shows. Another motorcycle accident the following year claimed Oakley’s life. The 1970s brought more
highly publicized turmoil: Allman was compelled to testify in a drug case against a former road manager for the band, and his marriage to the actress and singer Cher was short-lived even by show business standards. In 1975, Cher and Allman
married three days after she divorced her husband and singing partner, Sonny Bono. Their marriage was tumultuous from the start; Cher requested a divorce just nine days after their Las Vegas wedding, although she dismissed the suit a month later.
They had o ne child together, Elijah Blue, and Cher filed for legal separation in 1977.