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Dan Toler dies: The ex-guitarist for the Allman Brothers, Dan Toler, died of Lou Gehrig’s this week.
Former Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dan Toler has died of Lou Gehrig’s disease at his home in Sarasota, Florida, his manager confirmed this week with a local newspaper. He was 65.
Toler played in the band from 1979 to 1982 and was included on the band’s albums “Brothers of the Road,” “Enlightened Rogues,” and “Reach for the Sky,” according to Rolling Stone.
“His ability to make people laugh and feel good and happy was amazing,” close friend Chaz Trippy, a percussionist in the Gregg Allman Band, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, which reported on his death.
“That smile of his is just a force of life and, God, how he loved playing that guitar,” Trippy added.
In recent months, the disease left Toler unable to speak or play his guitar.
“I was talking to him about the old days on the road,the stuff we used to do,” Trippy told the paper. “He couldn’t speak but he squeezed my hand.”
In 2011, Toler said that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is more commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Both Dan and Frankie Toler played for the Gregg Allman Band for much of the 1980s and were included on the albums “I’m No Angel” and “Just Before the Bullets Fly.” Later in 2002, Toler joined Betts’ Great Southern band—a band that he played for also in the late 1970s.
“It’s a rough day but a good day,” Trippy said. “He’s up there with his brother now jamming in heaven.”
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