BREAKING: Cher heartbroken after receiving devastating news

Music legend Gregg Allman, whose bluesy vocals helped propel the Allman Brothers Band to superstardom and spawn Southern rock, has passed away aged 69-years-old.

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In 1975, Cher and Allman married three days after she divorced her husband and singing partner, Sonny Bono. Their marriage was tumultuous from the start; Cher requested a divorce just nine days after their Las Vegas wedding, although she dismissed the suit a month later.

Together they released a widely panned duets album under the name Allman and Woman. They had one child together, Elijah Blue, and Cher filed for legal separation in 1977.

Cher tweeted tributes to her ex-husband today.

Allman died peacefully and surrounded by loved ones at his home near Savannah, Georgia, his manager, Michael Lehman, told The Associated Press. He blamed cancer for Allman's death.

"It's a result of his reoccurrence of liver cancer than had come back five years ago," Lehman said in an interview. "He kept it very private because he wanted to continue to play music until he couldn't."

• This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission.