Phil Lesh, the co-founder and bassist of Grateful Dead, has died at the age of 84.
The musician’s death was confirmed in a statement on social media, which shared that he “passed peacefully” today (October 25).
“He was surrounded by his family and full of love. Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love. We request that you respect the Lesh family’s privacy at this time,” the statement read.
No cause of death has been given at this time.
Originally a classically trained trumpeter, Lesh was part of the original line-up of Grateful Dead in 1965, alongside Jerry Garcia on lead guitar and vocals), Bob Weir on rhythm guitar and vocals, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan on keyboards, harmonica, and vocals), and Bill Kreutzmann on drums. He was the last to join the band under their original name of the Warlocks before they changed it to Grateful Dead.
At the time of joining, Lesh had never picked up a bass guitar but grew to develop a distinctive style influenced by jazz in particular that sometimes made his instrument sound like a second lead guitar. He contributed especially significantly to some of the band’s earliest works and played on all 13 of the Dead’s studio releases and 10 official live albums between 1967 and 1990.
Following the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, Lesh participated in various touring iterations of the band including the Other Ones (1998-99), the Dead (2003-04, 2008-09) and Furthur (2009-13). The surviving members performed publicly together for the last time on the ‘Fare Thee Well’ tour shows in Northern California and Chicago.
Lesh was not a part of the recent incarnation Dead & Company featuring Weir and the band’s other significant drummer Mickey Hart alongside John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti and Jay Lane.
He did, however, play in Phil Lesh and Friends and with the Terrapin Family Band, an offshoot of his family-run music hall and restaurant Terrapin Crossroads, which opened in California in 2012.
Lesh had run into health issues in the final decades of his life, including a liver transplant in 1998. He was treated for prostate cancer in 2006 and later bladder cancer in 2015 before undergoing surgery on his back in 2019.
Just two days before he died, Grateful Dead were named Persons of the Year by the charity MusiCares. The ceremony is expected to be the start of the group’s 60th anniversary celebrations.
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