With the band: 1972–1976
Instruments: Piano, keyboards
An Alabama Start
Chuck Leavell was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 28, 1952. He started his first band at 13, and while he was still a teenager he began hanging around the studios in Muscle Shoals. From there he moved to Macon, Georgia, where Capricorn Records was signing Southern musicians, and he quickly became a busy session player.
Joining the Band
Gregg Allman brought Chuck in to play on his first solo album, Laid Back. The rest of the Allman Brothers Band got to know him through those sessions, and he joined in the fall of 1972. Instead of trying to replace Duane with another guitarist, the band made Chuck’s piano a second lead voice alongside Dickey Betts’ guitar, and that choice opened the music up in a whole new way.
You can hear Chuck all over Brothers and Sisters (1973), and his piano solo on “Jessica” is one of the most famous moments on the record. He stayed with the band through Win, Lose or Draw (1975) and the live album Wipe the Windows, Check the Oil, Dollar Gas (1976).
Sea Level
When the band broke up in 1976, Chuck, Jaimoe and Lamar Williams formed the jazz-rock band Sea Level, a play on Chuck’s own name. Chuck turned down an invitation to rejoin the Allman Brothers for the 1978 reunion, and Sea Level kept going until 1980. He did come back for the band’s two reunion shows in 1986.
Twenty-Plus Years with the Stones
In 1982 Chuck started touring with the Rolling Stones, and he has been their main touring keyboard player and musical director ever since. He has also recorded and performed with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, the Black Crowes, John Mayer and many others.
The Tree Farmer
Off the road, Chuck and his wife Rose Lane run Charlane, their timber farm in middle Georgia, not far from Macon. Their sustainable forestry work has won national recognition. Chuck has written books on conservation and hosted the public television series America’s Forests, and he is the subject of the documentary Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man.
More about Chuck Leavell
Chuck Leavell in the News
