Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh Dies at 84

Phil Lesh, bassist for the Grateful Lifeless, died this morning (October 25), in accordance with an announcement on his official social media accounts. A reason behind dying was not shared, simply that he “passed peacefully” and that he “was surrounded by his family and full of love.” Lesh was 84 years previous.

Philip Chapman Lesh was born and raised in Berkeley, California. He enrolled at the College of California, Berkeley, in 1961, the place he studied music and composition underneath the Italian composer Luciano Berio. He was additionally a classmate of Steve Reich at the college.

In 1965, Lesh, a bassist-in-training, joined Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, and Invoice Kreutzmann in a band referred to as the Warlocks. On Saturday, December 4, 1965, they adopted a brand new title for considered one of Ken Kesey’s Acid Check events, in San Jose: They have been the Grateful Lifeless.

Grateful Lifeless launched their first album, additionally referred to as Grateful Lifeless, in March 1967, however they have been simply as well-known throughout the Bay Space for his or her lengthy, free-form concert events. Extra albums adopted because the band’s acclaim and notoriety grew. Lesh didn’t take the lead, as a author or a singer, on many songs, however he did co-write the opening and shutting songs on 1970’s American Magnificence, “Box of Rain” and “Truckin’.” He additionally sang the lead vocals on “Box of Rain.” And, concerning “Truckin’,” Lesh as soon as mentioned, “We took our experiences on the road and made it poetry… the last chorus defines the band itself.”

Lesh was a fixture with the Grateful Lifeless till the band’s dissolution, in 1995, following the dying of Jerry Garcia. He quickly started performing with a rotating lineup of members as Phil Lesh and Associates. He didn’t, nonetheless, be part of his former bandmates within the revival act Lifeless & Firm.

Within the mid-2000s, Lesh wrote about his years with the Grateful Lifeless within the ebook Looking for the Sound. Round that point, the musician additionally revealed that he had been identified with prostate most cancers, finally having surgical procedure to deal with it. Almost a decade later, he had bladder most cancers surgical procedure.