Chuck Leavell tells Monica Pearson how a ‘happy accident’ started his career

Self-taught piano and keyboard phenom Chuck Leavell talks family, music, and forestry in this two-part episode of “The Monica Pearson Show.”

Famous for decades of impressive stints with the Allman Brothers, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, and more, Leavell is an inductee of both the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.

His life story can be seen in the documentary “Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man.”

While he wouldn’t advise others to drop out of high school, he shares how it worked out well for him and discusses the difference between the music industry when he got started in the late ‘60s versus today. His advice to young people? “I don’t have a clue, man.”

Leavell has been married to sweetheart Rose Lane for 51 years. They share two daughters, and four grandchildren, two of whom have a knack for the piano, but they may be lured away by a semiprofessional sport.

Once referred to as “the man who can’t pass a piano without turning into Little Richard,” Leavell is proud of his music career, but nothing makes him prouder than his family.

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