The Allman Brothers Band’s Gregg Allman Dead at 69

Gregg Allman has died, Billboard reports. The news was confirmed with a note on Allman’s website, which states that he died “peacefully at his home in Savannah, Georgia.” The singer, songwriter, and guitarist from the Allman Brothers Band, who had a prolific solo career of his own, was 69. Allman struggled with a series of health troubles in recent years. He was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2007 and had a liver transplant in 2010. The rocker cancelled a series of 2016 shows so that he could take time off from touring to “focus on his health.” A planned 2017 tour was also scrapped due to “serious health issues.” 

Allman was born in Nashville in 1947. After playing in a variety of bands with his brother Duane, they co-founded the Allman Brothers Band in 1969. Their debut self-titled album came out that year. In 1971, they released their live album At Fillmore East, which was a critical and commercial success. About three months after that album’s release, Duane died in a motorcycle crash at age 24. Following his brother’s death, Gregg continued performing with a rotating cast of musicians in the Allman Brothers Band. Their next album, 1972’s Eat a Peach, featured posthumously released recordings by Duane. The Allman Brothers Band split in 1976, but would reunite off-and-on throughout the years. They played their last show in 2014.

Gregg launched his solo recording career with 1973’s Laid Back; his most recent album was 2011’s Low Country Blues. In 1975, he married Cher. They had a son together and made the 1977 album Two the Hard Way before divorcing in 1978. Allman struggled with drug and alcohol abuse throughout his life; he once said that he’d gone to rehab 17 different times. His memoir My Cross to Bear was released in 2012. 

The family has asked that tributes to Allman be made to the Gregg Allman Scholarship Fund at The University of Georgia or the Allman/Lehman Endowed Scholarship at Syracuse University.

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