Biography:

Gregory LeNoir Allman (December 8, 1947 – May 27, 2017) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was known for performing in the Allman Brothers Band. Allman grew up with an interest in rhythm and blues music, and the Allman Brothers Band fused it with rock music, jazz, and country at times. He wrote several of the band’s biggest songs, including “Whipping Post“, “Melissa“, and “Midnight Rider“. Allman also had a successful solo career, releasing seven studio albums. He was born and spent much of his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee, before relocating to Daytona Beach, Florida and then Macon, Georgia.

He and his brother Duane Allman formed the Allman Brothers Band in 1969, which reached mainstream success with their 1971 live album At Fillmore East, but shortly thereafter, Duane was killed in a motorcycle crash. The band continued, and released Brothers and Sisters, which became their most successful album, in 1973. Allman began a solo career with Laid Back the same year. He gained some additional fame for his 1975 to 1978 marriage to pop star Cher. He had an unexpected late-career hit with his cover of the song “I’m No Angel” in 1987, and his seventh solo album, Low Country Blues (2011), saw the highest chart positions of his career. Throughout his life, Allman struggled with alcohol and substance abuse, which formed the basis of his memoir My Cross to Bear (2012). His final album, Southern Blood, was released posthumously on September 8, 2017.

Allman performed with a Hammond organ and guitar, and was recognized for his soulful voice. For his work in music, Allman was referred to as a Southern rock pioneer^[1] and received numerous awards, including one Grammy Award; he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. His distinctive voice placed him 70th in the Rolling Stone list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”.^[2]

Early life

Gregory LeNoir Allman was born on December 8, 1947, at Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee to Geraldine Robbins Allman (1917–2015) and Willis Turner Allman (1918–1949).^[3] The couple had met during World War II in Raleigh, North Carolina when Allman was on leave from the U.S. Army, and were later married. Their first child, Duane Allman, was born in Nashville in 1946. On December 26, 1949, Willis offered a hitchhiker a ride home and was subsequently shot and killed in Norfolk, Virginia.^[4][5] Geraldine moved to Nashville with her two sons and never remarried.^[6] Lacking money to support her children, she enrolled in college to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)—state laws at the time, according to her son, required students to live on-campus.^[7]

As a result, Gregg and his older brother were sent to Castle Heights Military Academy in nearby Lebanon.^[3] A young Gregg interpreted these actions as evidence of his mother’s dislike for him, though he later came to understand the reality: “She was actually sacrificing everything she possibly could—she was working around the clock, getting by just by a hair, so as to not send us to an orphanage, which would have been a living hell.”^[8] While his brother adapted to his surroundings with a defiant attitude, Allman felt largely depressed at the school. With little to do, he studied often and developed an interest in medicine—had he not gone into music, he hoped to become a dentist.^[9] He was rarely hazed at Castle Heights as his brother protected him, but often suffered beatings from instructors when he received poor grades.^[10] The brothers returned to Nashville upon their mother’s graduation, and moved to Daytona Beach, Florida in 1959.^[7] Allman would later recall two separate events in his life that led to his interest in music. In 1960, the two brothers attended a concert in Nashville with Jackie Wilson headlining alongside Otis Redding, B.B. King, and Patti LaBelle.^[9] Allman was also exposed to music through Jimmy Banes, a mentally handicapped neighbor of his grandmother in Nashville, who introduced him to the guitar.^[11]

Gregg worked as a paper boy to afford a Silvertone guitar, which he purchased at a Sears when he saved up enough funds.^[7] Like his brother, he was left-handed, but played the guitar right-handed. He and his brother often fought to play the instrument, though there was “no question that music brought” the two together.^[12] In Daytona, they joined a YMCA group called the Y Teens, their first experience performing music with others.^[13] He and Duane returned to Castle Heights in their teen years, where they formed a band, the Misfits.^[14] Despite this, he still felt “lonesome and out of place”, and quit the academy.^[15] He returned to Daytona Beach and pursued music further, and the duo formed another band, the Shufflers, in 1963.^[13] He attended high school at Seabreeze High School, where he graduated in 1965.^[16] However, he grew undisciplined in his studies as his interests diverged: “Between the women and the music, school wasn’t a priority anymore.”^[17]

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