What was Duane Allman's Net Worth?
Duane Allman was an American guitarist, musician and singer who had a net worth of $300 thousand at the time of his death. Duane Allman, well known for his extended guitar solos and the electric bottleneck sound he made come from his Gibson Les Paul, was the founder and leader of the "Allman Brothers Band" which he played in alongside his younger brother Gregg Allman. Influenced by the American jazz musician Miles Dewey Davis III, Duane Allman was highly skilled in improvisation and was inducted, posthumously, into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.
Early Years
Duane Allman was born on November 20, 1946 in Nashville, Tennessee, the oldest son of Willis Allman and his wife Geraldine Robbins. When Duane was three years old, his father, who was a second lieutenant on active duty with the United States Army, was murdered. After her husband's death, Geraldine entered Duane and his brother Gregg into the Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee so that she would be free to go and obtain job training in order to support them all. In 1957, she and her sons relocated to Daytona Beach, Florida where Duane attended the public Seabreeze High School.
The Love of Guitar
Duane Allman became interested in playing the guitar after his brother purchased one. When he was 14, his mother later bought him his own Gibson Les Paul Junior, a solid-body electric guitar. While visiting their grandmother in Nashville, Tennessee Duane and Gregg attended a rhythm and blues concert at which American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter B.B. King performed. The event inspired Duane to become as skilled as possible in the art of guitar playing.
The Early Work
In 1961, Duane Allman and his brother Gregg began playing music publicly. Duane dropped out of school to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time musician and eventually formed the band "The Escorts" which served as the opening act for the American rock band the "Beach Boys" in 1965. The band soon broke up and Duane formed "The Allman Joys" with Gregg and they became the house band at "The Briar Patch" in Nashville. In 1965, they made a tour through the southeast states before disbanding.
In 1966, music producer Tony Moon hired Duane Allman to play guitar on the first album of "The Vogues." The following year, Duane formed the soul band "Hour Glass" with Gregg and they relocated to Los Angeles where they recorded two albums under the Liberty Records' label.
Unhappy with how they were being publicized as pop musicians rather than the blues musicians they were, Duane and Gregg moved back to Florida in 1968 where they played on demo tracks for the American rock band "The 31st of February." That same year, American record producer Roe "Rick" Hall, owner of FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, listened to an "Hour Glass" album and was so impressed with Duane's guitar-playing, he signed him to a $10,000 contract. Soon after, Duane played on the album "Hey Jude" the ninth studio album by soul singer Wilson Pickett. When Jerry Waxler, music producer at Atlantic Records, heard Duane's guitar playing on Pickett's album, he bought him out of his contract with FAME. Duane then played on recordings by such artists as Aretha Franklin, Boz Scaggs and Otis Rush.
The Allman Brothers Band
In 1969, Duane Allman formed the six-member "Allman Brothers Band" with his brother Gregg in Jacksonville, Florida and the recorded their first album "The Allman Brothers Band" that year. They would soon become one of the most popular musical groups of the 1970s. A 1971 article in Rolling Stone magazine called them "the best damn rock and roll band this country has produced in the past five years."
The "Allman Brothers Band" released their second album "Idlewild South" in 1970. In 1971, they released "At Fillmore East" three months before Duane's death.
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Death
On October 29, 1971, Duane Allman was out riding his Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle while the "Allman Brothers band" was taking a break from recording and touring. He was traveling at a high rate of speed when a flatbed truck suddenly stopped at an intersection, forcing him to try to swerve around it. It isn't certain what he collided with but he was thrown from the motorcycle, which landed on top of him and then skidded 90 feet down the road with his body pinned beneath it. Although he was alive when he reached the hospital, his organs were crushed and he died a few hours later from massive internal injuries.
Duane's funeral was held on November 1 at Snow's Memorial Chapel in Macon, Georgia. Jerry Wexler gave the eulogy. The "Allman Brothers Band" continued to record and tour without its renowned guitar player.
Personal Life
Duane Allman had a daughter with girlfriend Patti Chandlee as well as a daughter with girlfriend Donna Roosman.
In 2014, his daughter Galadrielle Allman released a book about her parents and the culture of the 60′ called "Please Be with Me: A Song for My Father."
Legacy
In 2003, Duane Allman was ranked number 2 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, coming in just below Jimi Hendrix. In 2011, he was ranked number 9 and in 2023 he was ranked number 10. In 1995, 21 years after his death, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
