Dickey Betts, guitarist, singer, and co-founder of the Allman Brothers Band, died this Thursday at the age of 80. His representative, David Spero, said he suffered from cancer and chronic lung disease.

Betts was the author and performer of one of the group's most important songs, 'Ramblin' Man.' The song was the only one from the band that was in the top 10 of the United States sales chart. He was hospitalized in 2018 for a brain injury after falling in the yard of his house. "The legendary performer, songwriter, and family patriarch was at his home in Osprey, Florida, surrounded by his family. Dickey was larger than life, and his loss will be felt around the world," can be read in the text published on the group's official website. He started playing the ukulele when he was five years old, then moved on to bass and mandolin. The first died in 1971, and the second in 2017. The Allman Brothers reunited in 1978 with new members, such as Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks. They would go on to record seven more studio albums and another six live albums. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2000, Butch Trucks committed suicide by shooting himself in the head, and Gregg Allman fired Betts, citing a decline in his playing. The guitarist returned to the group and played often with his son, also a guitarist and whom he named after his old friend Duane. Dickey Betts told Rolling Stone: "They have 300 teenagers who come there and they are very arrogant. They drive down the road and don't get out of your way. You work your whole life to get a place like this, and they rent it out!" He later moved to the outskirts of Osprey, Florida, where he recorded for other country artists.