Former Allman Brothers Band member (*70*) Neel has died at age 70. No reason for loss of life was instantly reported. He’d suffered a stroke 5 years in the past however recovered and returned to performing.

Former bandmate Warren Haynes confirmed Neel’s loss of life. “Aside from being an amazing musician and singer, Johnny was one of the funniest people on the planet — a true character,” Haynes stated in a social media put up. “‘Johnny Neel stories,’ as we refer to them in our little chunk of the music world, are legendary.”

Neel joined the Allman Brothers on keyboards and harmonica earlier than their Twentieth-anniversary reunion tour in the summertime of 1989 then appeared on 1990’s Seven Turns, co-writing 4 songs together with the Billboard mainstream rock chart-topping single “Good Clean Fun.” He additionally co-wrote “Maydell” from 2003’s Hittin’ the Note, which grew to become the ultimate studio album by the Allman Brothers Band.

READ MORE: The Very Best Dickey Betts Songs

Born blind on June 11, 1954, in Wilmington, Delaware, Neel had already recorded his first single with a gaggle referred to as the Shapes of Soul earlier than reaching his teenagers. He was listening to “Motown, soul music, pretty much back then. There were a lot of black influences down at the blind school,” Neel later remembered. “I went to the Maryland School of the Blind in Baltimore. Everyone there either played piano or tuned one. Around the Shapes of Soul era, the Stevie Wonder Fingertips album hit me because we were exactly the same age – 12.”

Neel ultimately drifted into rock music, recording two regionally well-received unbiased albums. He then moved to Nashville within the early ’80s and entered the Allman Brothers Band’s orbit after hanging up a friendship with fellow resident Dickey Betts.

Neel and Haynes had been a part of Betts’ solo group earlier than he introduced them into the reformed Allman Brothers Band lineup. Neel co-wrote seven songs on Betts’ 1988 album Pattern Disruptive, including lead vocals on “Far Cry.” He later toured with Gregg Allman, co-writing “Island” for Allman’s solo LP Just Before the Bullets Fly from the identical 12 months.

“The first time I met Johnny was at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville when I had just moved there,” Haynes stated. “He was sitting in with a band at a blues jam and he sang a song and played harmonica. The first thing I noticed, other than that he was blind, was that he sang better than their singer and he played better harp than their harp player. After he was done, I approached him and introduced myself and told him how much I enjoyed hearing him to which he replied, ‘I’m really a keyboard player but this band doesn’t have keyboards.’ ‘Wow,’ I thought. He must be a helluva keyboard player — and he was.”

Listen to (*70*) Neel Perform ‘Good Clean Fun’ With the Allman Brothers

Michael McDonald Pays Tribute to (*70*) Neel

“Maydell,” co-written with Haynes, initially appeared on 1994’s (*70*) Neel and the Last Word. By then, John Mayall had already lined the monitor on 1993’s Wake Up Call. Among the various different albums Neel appeared had been Haynes’ Tales of Ordinary Madness in 1993; Life Before Insanity from Haynes’ band Gov’t Mule in 2000; and Michael McDonald’s Blue Obsession, additionally from 2000.

“I was blessed by Johnny’s immense talent on the first record I recorded I Nashville,” McDonald stated in a separate social media put up. “I remember knowing right off that he was a good soul too. His musical gift was legendary by then and I consider it an honor to have crossed musical paths with him if only briefly.

Neel also worked with drummer Matt Abts and guitarist Allen Woody of Gov’t Mule in X2. Neel, Haynes and Abts appeared earlier this year on Live from the Lone Star Roadhouse, a Dickey Betts Band concert originally recorded in November 1988 in New York City.

Listen to Johnny Neel Perform ‘Blue Sky’ With the Dickey Betts Band

Warren Haynes Remembers the Allman Brothers Band