Guitarist, singer and songwriter Dickey Betts was a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band. He’s pictured on May 19, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn.
Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Webster PR
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Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Webster PR
Guitarist, singer and songwriter Dickey Betts was a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band. He’s pictured on May 19, 2014, in Nashville, Tenn.
Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Webster PR
Dickey Betts, a founding member of the famend rock group the Allman Brothers Band, died at at his residence in Osprey, Fla. on Thursday. The influential guitarist, songwriter and vocalist had been battling two varieties of most cancers in addition to power obstructive pulmonary illness (COPD). He was 80 years outdated.
The information was shared on Betts’ official website in a press release by his household.
“Dickey was larger than life, and his loss will be felt world-wide,” the assertion stated.
Betts’ blues, rock and country-influenced guitar type helped outline Southern rock in the 1960s and ’70s.
“Dickey was one of the most unique guitar stylists in the word, and you knew it was him when you heard him on record or live,” stated longtime Allman Brothers member Chuck Leavell, who at present serves as the Rolling Stones’ music director/keyboard participant, in a press release shared with NPR. “He leaves an enduring and enviable legacy that we will all be celebrating for eternity.”
Betts was finest identified for the music “Ramblin’ Man.” The Allman Brothers Band was initially reluctant to report the music, which Betts wrote and sang, as a result of they thought it sounded an excessive amount of like a rustic music.
Released in 1973, “Ramblin’ Man” went on to turn out to be the band’s first and solely top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
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The lean, mustachioed guitarist lower such an iconic determine that director Cameron Crowe primarily based the rock star hero of his 2000 film Almost Famous on him. The character in the movie was performed by Billy Crudup.
“Crudup’s look, and much more, is a tribute to Dickey,” Crowe stated in a 2017 interview for Rolling Stone journal. “Dickey seemed like a quiet guy with a huge amount of soul, possible danger and playful recklessness behind his eyes. He was a huge presence.”
Forrest Richard “Dickey” Betts was born in 1943 in West Palm Beach, Fla. He got here from a musical household and began out enjoying ukulele at 5 years outdated, earlier than selecting up the mandolin, banjo and guitar. He started performing in rock bands round Florida — which remained his lifelong residence state — and joined the Allman Brothers Band at its inception in 1969.
The Allman Brothers band carry out in 1972 in entrance of a tv viewers. Chuck Leavell, keys, left; Jamoie Johanson, drums; Dickey Betts, lead and slide guitar; Berry Oakley, bass; Butch Trucks, drums and percussion.
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The Allman Brothers band carry out in 1972 in entrance of a tv viewers. Chuck Leavell, keys, left; Jamoie Johanson, drums; Dickey Betts, lead and slide guitar; Berry Oakley, bass; Butch Trucks, drums and percussion.
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Betts began out enjoying co-lead guitar with Duane Allman (one of the two brothers after which the band took its title). He pushed rock guitar improvisation into new territory — the guitarist’s spiraling sound is completely captured in the monitor “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” on the Allman Brothers’ 1971 At Fillmore East album. Betts additionally made his title as a songwriter with songs like “Jessica” and “Blue Sky.”
After Duane Allman’s loss of life in a bike accident in 1971, Betts turned the Allman Brothers Band’s sole guitarist and lead singer. He had a checkered relationship with the group over the years, taking breaks to carry out with different ensembles and work on solo initiatives. But Betts wasn’t in a position to to duplicate the success he had with the Allman Brothers Band when he struck out on his personal.
Known for his laborious dwelling methods, Betts earned a repute for trashing resort rooms and taking swings at cops.
Yet in response to his longtime supervisor, David Spero, Betts was additionally an ideal mensch.
“He was such a giving man,” Spero stated in an interview with NPR. “He took time with his fans. He’d sign anything. He posed for every picture.”
The musician’s generosity was additionally highlighted in a 2005 interview for WHYY’s Fresh Air, when nation music star Billy Joe Shaver described how Betts helped kickstart the music profession of Shaver’s son Eddy Shaver by noticing his expertise and even passing alongside prize guitars.
“Dickey Betts gave [Eddy Shaver] his 335 that belonged to Duane Allman and a ’55 Strat when he was 13 years old,” Shaver stated. “And Dickey had recognized quicker than I did how much talent he had.”
Story edited by Jennifer Vanasco.
