Gregg Allman

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Gregg Allman, a survivor of tragedy, knew the blues musically and in a painfully personal way.

Raised by a single mother after his father was shot to death, he idolized his guitar-slinging older brother, Duane, and became his musical partner. They formed the nucleus of The Allman Brothers Band, which helped define the Southern rock sound of the 1970s.

Their songs such as “Whipping Post,” “Ramblin’ Man” and “Midnight Rider” laid the foundation for the genre and opened the doors for groups like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Marshall Tucker Band.

Allman, whose bluesy vocals and soulful touch on the Hammond B-3 organ helped propel the Allman Brothers Band to superstardom, died Saturday. He was 69.

Allman died peacefully and surrounded by loved ones at his home near Savannah, his manager, Michael Lehman, told The Associated Press. He blamed cancer for Allman’s death.

“It’s a result of his reoccurrence of liver cancer that had come back five years ago,” Lehman said. “He kept it very private because he wanted to continue to play music until he couldn’t.”

Allman played his last concert in October.

In 1975, Cher and Allman married three days after she divorced her husband and singing partner, Sonny Bono. Their marriage was tumultuous from the start.

They had one child together, Elijah Blue. Cher filed for legal separation in 1977.

In his memoir, Allman said he spent years overindulging in women, drugs and alcohol before getting sober in the mid-1990s.