In early October 1971, everything seemed to be coming up roses for the Allman Brothers Band. Though the group had been suffering through multiple addictions in the band and road crew, many of them, including bandleader Duane Allman, bassist Berry Oakley, and roadies Robert Payne and Red Dog Campbell, checked themselves into rehab. They completed their treatment. Their professional star was rising. Then, tragedy struck the band—and it almost struck twice.
Vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Duane Allman died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash on October 29, 1971. He was only 24 years old. The tragedy took the entire band by surprise, and the cultural impact of Duane’s death also sent shockwaves throughout the rest of the world. It was a devastating loss that threatened to dismantle a band that was approaching its artistic peak.
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And if fate had swung a different way that fateful night, the combined loss of two brothers might have been enough to do it.
Gregg Allman Nearly Died on the Same Night As Duane Allman
In the 2026 documentary Gregg Allman: The Music Of My Soul, the late musician’s friends and family recalled just how close the world was to losing both Allman brothers in the same night. Chank Middleton remembered going to the hospital with Gregg upon hearing the news of Duane’s wreck. Doctors told the men that Duane’s injuries were survivable, so they left.
Shortly thereafter, roadie Red Dog Campbell knocked on Gregg’s door with the heartbreaking news that Duane didn’t make it. “When I opened the door, I could look at Red Dog’s face and tell that Duane had died,” Middleton recalled in the documentary, per Guitar Player. “I just told Red Dog, ‘Man, don’t tell him now.’ When I said that, I could hear Gregg’s voice coming out the bedroom from behind me. I could hear his voice saying, ‘Don’t tell me what?’”
The men returned to the hospital to say their goodbyes, and on their way back home, they picked up some h*****. Gregg, no doubt reeling from the loss of his brother, took a near-lethal dose. According to the musician’s son, Devon Allman, he had to be revived that night. “Chank was like…he literally thought for a second, he thought he lost them both. And they revived my dad. But there for a minute he thought, ‘They just both died tonight.’”
Carrying On The Allman Brothers Band Legacy Through Tragedy
Fortunately, Gregg Allman survived that night. And although this would hardly be the last tragedy to befall the band—Berry Oakley died in a motorcycle accident one month later—the musicians managed to forge ahead. They made their decision as much out of respect for Duane Allman’s wishes as their own desire to keep the band together, perhaps even more the former. The Allman Brothers Band was able to push forward through the years, adapting their sound and creating new branches of their musical legacy in honor of their late bandmates.
“I still ain’t gotten over it,” Duane later said, per Play All Night! Duane Allman And The Journey To The Fillmore East. “I don’t know what getting over it means, really; I don’t stand around crying anymore. But I think about him every day of my life. I had the deepest, closest personal relationship with him I’ve ever had with anyone because we went through heaven and hell together. Without him, there’s no telling how I could have turned out.”
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