The Grateful Dead co-founder Phil Lesh, a musician with classical training whose unorthodox bass playing led the group into some of its most avant-garde areas, passed away on Friday at the age of 84.
The following brief statement was posted on social media to notify of Lesh’s passing: “Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, passed away peacefully this morning. He was brimming with affection and surrounded by his family. Phil left behind a legacy of love and music and provided great delight to everyone in his vicinity. We ask that you please respect the privacy of the Lesh family at this time. The reason for death was not stated.
Phil Lesh was born in 1940 in Berkeley, California, and at first, he was interested in classical music. During his high school years and his time at the College of San Mateo, he focused on learning the trumpet after playing the violin as a child.
Lesh did not play the banjo, but he met Jerry Garcia in the early 1960s, and Garcia requested him to play the instrument as a bassist for his rock band, The Warlocks. Despite this, he agreed, and Lesh began to establish himself in the improvisation-based ensemble as The Grateful Dead was formed in 1965.
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Grateful Dead author Dennis McNally writes in his 2002 book A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead, “Phil Lesh, the most aggressive purist, the anti-philistine Artist, is the daily psychic pivot to the Dead. He is the one who loudly and regularly demands that they dance as near the brink of the nearest available precipice as possible. Because of his tremendous mental and physical velocity, he was formerly known by the nickname Reddy Kilowatt. He was intense, dynamic, and intelligent.
In 1970, Phil Lesh (right) played bass for the Grateful Dead alongside lead singer Jerry Garcia and drummer Bill Kreutzmann.
During the Dead’s decades of musical longevity and reinvention, Lesh went on to sing lead vocals on some of the band’s most iconic songs, such as “Unbroken Chain” from 1974’s From the Mars Hotel and “Box of Rain” from the 1970 album American Beauty, which he co-wrote with longtime Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.
When Garcia passed away in 1995, Lesh got back together with Mickey Hart, Bob Weir, and keyboardist Bruce Hornsby to perform as The Other Ones and then The Dead. For ten years, he ran the well-known Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, California, and made records with his band, Phil Lesh and Friends. It was there that Lesh frequently performed with his sons, Brian and Grahame. Despite Terrapin’s closure in 2021, the Lesh family has persisted in supporting live music in Northern California. This past summer, Lesh was the main act at the Sunday Daydreams event.
In 2015, promoter Peter Shapiro scheduled a series of “Fare Thee Well” gigs in Chicago for Lesh and the rest of the Dead to commemorate their 50th anniversary. Anastasio joined them. To me, Phil was like a parent. Shapiro tells Rolling Stone, “I feel so fortunate to be able to say that.”Phil did that, and I am lucky to have been able to do so many shows with his wonderful energy and magic bass. The lesson of living life to the fullest is a wonderful one.”
In that same year, Phil Lesh disclosed that he had bladder cancer. As he told Relix in 2010, “I’m one of these guys who’s always open.” Look, there is no end to music. With a one-four-five sequence, there are countless ways to execute it and melodies that can accompany it. There are no boundaries or ceilings.