Watched the AXS interview.
I assume that rabid Allman Brothers fans already knew about most of what he said. Being a regular fan I knew the basics, that he had substance abuse problems, he didn't have any luck marriage wise (he said that was his fault - he and Cher remained good friends), and that the motorcycle was not the Allman Brothers' friend.
He said that he decided to write songs because he got tired of having to sing Beatles songs every night. The first song he wrote was "Melissa". He had all the lyrics but the name of the woman. He was trying various 3 syllable names with no success. Then he went into a store where there was a little girl running around. At one point her mother called out to her,, "Melissa!" Bingo!
He joined the band right out of High School. He told them that if there wasn't any success after 2 years he would go back to school to become a dentist. Thankfully he didn't have to take up that profession.
He didn't want to fight in Vietnam. So he literally shot himself in the foot.
(That wasn't unusual. One of my cousins got on a horse and at full gallop fell off, hoping that he would have broken his leg. I remember that day well, and his sorrow on realizing that he only had bumps and bruises. He ended up in Nam, was seriously injured, permanently disabled and died way too young. That &?!#%*@ War!
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