Gregg Allman

At 69 years old, Gregg Allman physical status not available right now. We will update Gregg Allman's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Allman married Cher in June 1975, and the two lived in Hollywood during their years together as tabloid favorites. Their marriage produced one son, Elijah Blue Allman, who was born in July 1976. He recorded his second solo album, Playin' Up a Storm, with the Gregg Allman Band, and it was released in May 1977. He also worked on a collaborative album with Cher titled Two the Hard Way, which, upon its release, was a massive failure. The couple went to Europe to tour in support of both albums, though the crowd reception was mixed. With a combination of Allman Brothers fans and Cher fans, fights often broke out in venues, which led Cher to cancel the tour. Turmoil began to overwhelm their relationship, and the two divorced in 1978. Allman returned to Daytona Beach to stay with his mother, spending the majority of his time partying, chasing women, and touring with the Nighthawks, a blues band.

The Allman Brothers Band reunited in 1978. Allman remembered that each member had his own reasons for rejoining, though he surmised it was a combination of displeasure with how things ended, missing each other, and a need for money. The band's reunion album, Enlightened Rogues, was released in February 1979 and was a mild commercial success. Betts's lawyer, Steve Massarsky, began managing the group, and led the band to sign with Arista, who pushed the band to "modernize" their sound. Drugs remained a problem with the band, particularly for Betts and Allman. The band again grew apart, replacing Jaimoe with new guitarist Dan Toler's brother Frankie. The band considered their post-reunion albums—Reach for the Sky (1980) and Brothers of the Road (1981)—"embarrassing", and subsequently broke up in 1982. "It was like a whole different band made those records ... In truth, though, I was just too drunk most of the time to care one way or the other", Allman would recall.

Allman spent much of the 1980s adrift and living in Sarasota, Florida with friends. His alcohol abuse was at one of its worst points, with Allman consuming "a minimum of a fifth of vodka a day." He felt the local police pursued him heavily; during this time, he was arrested and charged with a DUI. While he did not consider himself "washed up", he noted in his autobiography that he kept a "fear of everybody forgetting about you." Southern rock had faded from view and electronic music formed much of the pop music of the decade. "There was hardly anybody playing live music, and those who did were doing it for not much money, in front of some die-hard old hippies in real small clubs", he later recalled. Nevertheless, he reformed the Gregg Allman Band and toured nationwide. At one point, he attempted to reconnect with his children, though, according to him, "it just wasn't a good situation".

By 1986, having grown tired of financial instability, Allman approached Betts for a co-headlining tour, a sort-of Allman Brothers reunion. After recording several demos, Allman was offered a recording contract by Epic Records. His third solo release, I'm No Angel (1987), sold well; its title track became a surprise hit on radio. Allman released another solo album the following year, Just Before the Bullets Fly, though it did not sell as well as its predecessor. In the late 1980s, he moved to Los Angeles. He married Danielle Galliano in what he dubbed midlife crisis. The marriage began with Allman overdosing—"so [it] started off with a bang", he said. He dabbled in acting for the first time, taking a small part in the film Rush Week (1989), and his final role two years later in Rush. Allman greatly enjoyed the experience: "It was a different facet of the entertainment industry, and I wanted to see how those people worked together." The Allman Brothers Band celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 1989, and the band reunited once more for a summer tour, with Jaimoe again on drums. They featured guitarist Warren Haynes and pianist Johnny Neel, both from the Dickey Betts Band, and bassist Allen Woody. The band returned to the studio with longtime producer Tom Dowd for 1990's Seven Turns, which was considered a return to form. "Good Clean Fun" and "Seven Turns" each became big hits on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The addition of Haynes and Woody had "reenergized" the ensemble.

The newly reformed Allman Brothers began touring heavily, which helped build a new fan base: "We had to build a fan base all over again, but as word of mouth spread about how good the music was, more and more people took notice. It felt great, man, and that really helped the music", Allman recalled. Neel left the group and the band added percussionist Marc Quiñones, formerly of Spyro Gyra, the following year. They recorded two more studio albums—Shades of Two Worlds (1992) and Where It All Begins. In 1993 his youngest daughter Layla Brooklyn Allman was born while Gregg was living in Novato, California. When his relationship with Shelby Blackburn ended, Layla and Shelby moved back to Los Angeles. Allman's older daughter, Island, came to live with him in Novato, and despite early struggles, they eventually grew very close. "Island is the love of my life, she really is", he would later write. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January 1995; Allman was severely inebriated and could barely make it through his acceptance speech. Seeing the ceremony broadcast on television later, Allman was mortified, providing a catalyst for his final, successful attempt to quit alcohol and substance abuse. He hired two in-home nurses that switched twelve-hour shifts to help him through the process. He was immensely happy to finally quit alcohol, writing later in his autobiography: "Did I get any positive anything out of all that? And you've got to admit to yourself, no, I didn't. You can see what happened and that by the grace of God, you finally quit before it killed you."

For much of the 1990s, Allman lived in Marin County, California, spending his free time with close friends and riding his motorcycle. He recorded a fifth solo album, Searching for Simplicity, which was quietly released on 550 Music in 1997. The album's title reflected his search "for a more simple life" following his rehabilitation from drugs and alcohol. Despite positive developments in his personal life, relationships began declining in the band yet again. Haynes and Woody left to focus on Gov't Mule, feeling as though a break was imminent. The group recruited Oteil Burbridge of the Aquarium Rescue Unit to replace Woody on bass, and Jack Pearson on guitar. Concerns arose over the increasing loudness of Allman Brothers shows, which were largely centered on Betts. "It had ceased to be a band—everything had to be based around what Dickey was playing", said Allman. Pearson, struggling with tinnitus, left as a result. Butch Trucks phoned his nephew, Derek Trucks, to join the band for their thirtieth anniversary tour. Anger boiled over within the group towards Betts, which led to all original members sending him a letter, informing him of their intentions to tour without him. All involved contended that the break was temporary, but Betts responded by hiring a lawyer and suing the group, which led to a permanent divorce. That August, Woody was found dead in a hotel room in New York, which hit Allman particularly hard. In 2001, Haynes rejoined the band, setting the stage for over a decade of stability within the group.

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