Berry Oakley's Birth Card: The 4 of Spades

In the record

Raymond Berry Oakley III (April 4, 1948 – November 11, 1972) was an American bassist and one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band. The birth-card coordinate for April 4 is the 4 of Spades — a calendar position, not a forecast of the 1995 Performers with The Allman Brothers Band induction.

Rock Hall record

• 1995 Performers — inducted member of The Allman Brothers Band

The 4 of Spades coordinate

Berry Oakley's birthday maps to the 4 of Spades (The Rigid Truth). Card Blueprints treats that as a 365-day coordinate: solar value = 55 − (2 × month + day), and the year is unused. It is not a prediction about a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame vote and not a verdict on Berry Oakley. The card's own language, quoted as system copy rather than biography: You build enough container that change can happen without the floor disappearing.

Live 4 of Spades meaning page

Berry Oakley in the public record

Known for his long, melodic bass runs, he was ranked number 46 on Bass Player magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Bass Players of All Time". He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Allman Brothers Band in 1995. Oakley was born in Chicago and raised in the suburb of Park Forest, Illinois. He attended Rich East High School. He then moved to Florida where he met and joined Dickey Betts' band, the Blues Messengers, later called Second Coming. He was a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band in 1969, along with guitarists Betts and Duane Allman, singer and keyboardist Gregg Allman, and drummers and percussionists Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson. After Oakley’s passing, subsequent bassists for the Allman Brothers Band included Lamar Williams, David Goldflies, Allen Woody. and Oteil Burbridge. On November 11, 1972, Oakley was involved in a motorcycle accident in Macon, Georgia, a mere three blocks away from where Duane Allman had his fatal motorcycle accident the year before.

Summarised from the lead section of the Wikipedia article Berry Oakley (CC BY-SA 4.0). No biographical facts were written for this page beyond that article.

Where the record meets the 9 of Hearts

A card is a calendar coordinate, not a cause. What follows sets one line of the card's own published language beside one sentence of the sourced record, paired by a documented rule. It is a resemblance offered for the reader to weigh — not a claim about Berry Oakley, and not a forecast of induction.

You stay kind without picking up what is not yours. You're wired for a love that extends beyond the personal—compassion for people, causes, and the world. You feel others' pain as your own and are moved to ease it. At your best, you carry deep wisdom about what to hold and what to release.

However, three hours later, he was rushed to the hospital, delirious and in pain, and died of cerebral swelling caused by a fractured skull.

Paired on shared wording: caused, pain. This line comes from the Neptune position of the 8♠'s Life Spread.

Also on the record

1. Oakley was riding around a sharp right bend of the road on Napier Avenue at Inverness when he crossed the road’s center line and collided at an angle with a city bus rounding the bend from the opposite direction.
2. After striking the front and then the back of the bus, Oakley was thrown from his motorcycle, just as Allman had been, and struck his head.
3. Oakley declined medical treatment at the scene after the accident and caught a ride home.
4. However, three hours later, he was rushed to the hospital, delirious and in pain, and died of cerebral swelling caused by a fractured skull.

Other inductees with this card

• Aynsley Dunbar — 2017 Performers with Journey
• David Gilmour — 1996 Performers with Pink Floyd
• Donald Fagen — 2001 Performers with Steely Dan
• Hugh Grundy — 2019 Performers with The Zombies
• Lou Gramm — 2024 Performers with Foreigner
• Mary Wilson — 1988 Performers with The Supremes
• Muddy Waters — 1987 Performers
• Pat Benatar — 2022 Performers with Pat Benatar
• Pick Withers — 2018 Performers with Dire Straits
• Rod Stewart — 1994 Performers; 2012 Performers with The Small Faces

FAQ

What is Berry Oakley's birth card?

The 4 of Spades. April 4 maps to that card through the public Card Blueprints formula. The year of birth is not used.

Does a birth card predict a Rock Hall induction?

No. These pages are coordinates, not fortune-telling. A birth card names a calendar day in a 52-card year. It does not forecast awards, character, or fate.

Where do Berry Oakley's dates come from?

Birth date 1948-04-04 is the day-precision date on Berry Oakley's Wikipedia infobox, verified against Wikidata P569 (CC0, day precision, Gregorian preferred). The two sources match. Inductee identity comes from the Wikipedia Performers list, which cites RockHall.com. Year-only dates and Wikipedia↔Wikidata conflicts are dropped, not guessed. Page hooks and evidence come from the Wikipedia REST summary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Get the $9 Deep Dive

The Deep Dive is a written card report for your own birthday — not a Rock Hall reading.

Get the $9 Deep Dive