The Deaths of Berry Oakley and Duane Allman Share Chilling Similarities That Are Hard to Believe

It’s an old and oft-used cliché, immortalized by Billy Joel, that “only the good die young.” Whether or not this maxim is true, it seems to apply to a startling number of musicians, from Amy Winehouse to Jimi Hendrix, both of whom passed away at the ripe age of 27. Almost unbelievably, some legends lost their lives even younger, with The Allman Brothers Band losing two of its founding members at 24: Berry Oakley and Duane Allman.

Oakley and Allman were the band’s bassist and guitarist, respectively. As founding members of The Allman Brothers, they shared a close bond in life—but were also connected in death. Through a string of coincidences, these musicians’ eerily similar deaths continue to confound their loved ones and fans.

Oakley and Allman Met in the Same City They Died In

Born Raymond Berry Oakley III in a Chicago suburb, Oakley spent most of his adult life in the South, moving to Florida shortly after high school to pursue his passion for blues music. There, he joined the Blues Messengers (later known as Second Coming) with guitarist and vocalist Dickey Betts. In 1969, music took Oakley and Betts to Macon, Georgia, where they met brothers Duane and Gregg Allman in a club.

Guitarist Duane (born Howard Duane Allman) and singer-keyboardist Gregg (born Gregg LeNoir Allman) were originally from Nashville. They’d long admired blues music, initially inspired to start playing after seeing the famous B.B. King perform live. In 1961, they began playing for various short-lived bands and achieving some success as live performers. Duane’s early band The Escorts, for instance, opened for The Beach Boys in 1965. But 1968, the brothers truly hit their stride: Duane began playing slide guitar—a technique he would later revolutionize—and the brothers committed to getting a band together.

Duane himself said that The Allman Brothers Band came together slowly, but it all started with that fateful meeting with Oakley in Macon, Georgia in 1969. Because the two had become fast friends after their first rendezvous, Allman invited Oakley to jam with him, his brother, and drummer Jai Johanny (Jaimoe) Johanson. The group hit it off right away. After enlisting Betts and drummer Butch Trucks, The Allman Brothers Band began performing together.

Evidently, Macon played a key role in the band’s early history. Not only was it the city that brought the ensemble together, but it was also Johanson’s birthplace and the band’s home base. Furthermore, the band frequently referenced its Georgia roots in its music and iconography, with their song and tagline, “Eat a Peach,” becoming one of the most recognizable phrases in rock history. But while Macon brought The Allman Brothers Band together, it also saw two members of band’s demise.

Duane Allman and Berry Oakley’s Deaths Share Eerie Similarities

Mere days after returning to Macon following a stint in a rehabilitation center, Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident at the intersection of Bartlett Street and Hillcrest Avenue. Suffering crushed organs from a horrific collision with a truck, Allman initially survived but ultimately perished several hours later at the hospital on October 29, 1971.

The band was distraught at the loss of their friend, but Berry Oakley’s suffering caused particular concern. According to Alan Paul’s One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band, Oakley lost weight rapidly and excessively abused alcohol and drugs in the wake of his friend’s death. Onlookers reported that he seemed to have lost all hope, and that he avoided sobriety in order to numb his pain. Then, on November 11, 1972—almost exactly a year after Allman’s death—Oakley also died in a motorcycle accident in Macon, just three blocks away from where Allman was killed. He’d apparently been on an upswing that day, excited at the prospect of leading a jam session later that night. Like Duane, his death was preceded by a brief taste of optimism on the heels of a difficult battle with substance abuse.

Both were on their motorcycles, just blocks apart. While Allman had hit a truck, Oakley had hit a bus. Both survived their initial injuries but died later at the hospital. Both were only 24 years old, and both believed that their lives were about to improve. To cap off the heartbreaking parallelisms, the two are now buried beside each other at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon.

Regardless of where one stands on coincidences versus fate, it’s hard not to feel stunned at the bond between Duane Allman and Berry Oakley. By coming together in life, these musicians created one of the most iconic bands of the twentieth century. Furthermore, the severing of their bond seemed to be too much for Oakley to bear. This makes their near-identical deaths all the more eerie, and their final resting place—together—all the more poignant.