Gregg Allman

Gregg Allman married seven times in his lifetime. His first marriage was with Shelley Kay Jefts in 1971. They divorced a year later and Allman married Janice Blair in 1973; this marriage too lasted a year.

His next marriage was with pop star Cher in 1975; together they had a son named Elijah Blue Allman. The marriage ended in 1978 and Allman married Julie Bindas in 1979. This union lasted about a year and a half. After a few years, he married Danielle Galliano in 1989. The couple split up with a divorce in 1994.

He married Stacey Fountain in 2001. This marriage lasted seven years—his longest one—before the couple ended it with a divorce in 2008. Allman married Shannon Williams in 2017 and they remained together till his death.

Gregory LeNoir Allman was born on December 8, 1947 in Nashville, Tennessee, to Geraldine Robbins Allman and Willis Turner Allman, a couple who first met each other during the World War II in Raleigh. He had one older brother.

His father, Willis Turner Allman, a former U.S. Army veteran, gave a hitchhiker a ride home and was shot and killed on December 26, 1949. Allman’s mother, Geraldine, moved with him and his brother to Nashville and raised them alone. While in Nashville, he was introduced to music by his grandmother’s mentally handicapped neighbor, Jimmy Banes.

His mother decided to study further and enrolled at a college to become a Certified Public Accountant. According to the rules at that time, she had to live on-campus. Thus, Allman and his brother had to be sent to Castle Heights Military Academy. Allman later realized that his mother had sacrificed so much in order to raise him and his brother single-handedly.

Gregg Allman worked as a paperboy during his teenage days to buy a Silverstone guitar after he was influenced by Jimmy Banes. He eventually bought one and started learning. He and his brother joined a Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) group named ‘Y Teens’ and began practicing together.

The Allman brothers met Floyd Miles, an American blues guitarist, and the three began jamming together. Their music was heavily influenced by the R&B and blues genres. The three young musicians were inspired by artists like McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters.

The two Allman brothers eventually moved to Macon, Georgia, and formed a group with Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Jaimoe, and Butch Trucks. They would spend their time in Rose Hill Cemetery jamming together and using psychedelic drugs. The band thus formed eventually evolved into The Allman Brothers Band.

The band’s eponymous first album, released in 1969, didn’t receive a good response and this forced the musicians to tour and perform in concerts in the ensuing years. These performances earned them a healthy fan following.

Despite acquiring a loyal fan following, the band again failed to enjoy commercial success with their second album ‘Idlewild South.’ Their fortunes finally changed in 1971 when they decided to release a live album.

Gregg Allman’s biggest achievement with the band was their fourth studio album ‘Brothers and Sisters’ which was a major hit. Allman wrote the lyrics of the popular singles ‘Ramblin' Man’ and ‘Jessica’. The album peaked at the Top 200 Pop Albums list for five weeks and sold over seven million copies worldwide.

While he had a very successful career with ‘The Allman Brothers Band’, he also enjoyed much success as a solo artiste. His seventh studio album ‘Low Country Blues’ reached No. 1 on the Top Blues Albums chart and No. 5 on the Billboard 200. It was also given a four-star rating by ‘AllMusic’.