Gregg Allman knew he wasy dying
Gregg Allman knew he was dying.
The 69-year-old musician – who was the co-founder of the Allman Brothers Band alongside his late brother Duane – passed away peacefully at his home in Savannah, Georgia last week and his longtime manager Michael Lehman said the star was "at peace" when he died.
He told Variety: "I would say he knew for the last six months that he was getting toward the end of his life, and he became resolved and peaceful. We cancelled [tour] dates when we had to, but we ended up playing through the end of October — we’d hoped to get through the end of the year but he’d had another bout of pneumonia and other respiratory ailments. "But for good or bad, he got to be home and relax, even though his true passion was being on the road. He’d listen to music, read books, see his kids, he got married to Shannon in February so he was able to take advantage of that time with her and being at his house, sitting by the pool, playing with his dogs. And thank goodness he did not suffer at the end, he died peacefully at home."
And Michael revealed that Gregg’s brother Duane – who passed away in November 1971 after a motorcycle accident – was never far from his thoughts.
He said: "He would think or talk about Duane almost every day. Duane’s presence was very much felt in the house, with pictures and letters and through Duane’s daughter Galadrielle, who Gregg really treated like another of his children. He loved her – she was an ever-present reminder of Duane. I remember, I guess it was during the Allmans’ 40th anniversary concerts, Eric Clapton guested and I brought Galadrielle into Clapton’s dressing room to introduce them and the they both just started weeping. It was an incredible moment.
"But he talked about the early days a lot. I remember once we were in Nashville, where Gregg was born, and I had always asked him to show me his childhood home, and for one reason or another we’d never had time, but one day six or seven years ago we did. So me and Gregg and his closest friend Huell ‘Chank’ Middleton and a driver found his childhood home, he hadn’t been there since he was six or seven years old, but he remembered how to get there. We rang the doorbell and a mother answered, with a couple of kids getting ready for soccer practice, and we just blew her away, she had no idea he had lived there. Gregg spent about 45 minutes there taking pictures and reminiscing, funny stories – ‘I can’t believe how small Duane’s and my bedroom was,’ ‘This is the tree where Duane tied me up once,’ funny, funny stories. We were there for a concert and we invited the whole family down."
