Founding Member Of Legendary Rock Band Passes Away At 84

Phil Lesh, one of the founding members of the rock band Grateful Dead, has passed away.

He was 84.

“Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of The Grateful Dead, passed peacefully this morning. 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,” an announcement on his Instagram page read.

Phil Lesh, Grateful Dead co-founder and bass player, dead at 84 https://t.co/kbHWw6mT3M pic.twitter.com/nww5MaOan8

— New York Post (@nypost) October 25, 2024

Phil Lesh, the Grateful Dead’s co-founder and bassist, has died at age 84.

“Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love.”

More on his life and music legacy: https://t.co/1hDBlXJc7x pic.twitter.com/fAx2cMoz4d

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) October 25, 2024

Page Six reports:

An official cause of death has not been revealed at this time, and his rep did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.

However, Lesh shared in 2015 that he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer.

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He said via a Facebook post at the time that he felt “very fortunate” that his pathology reports showed his tumors were “non-aggressive” and that there had been no indication that the cancer spread.

The “Terrapin Station” rocker shared he had been seeking treatment for two weeks at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., and would eventually be undergoing surgery to remove the tumors.

He also previously survived prostate cancer and had a liver transplant in 1998 due to the debilitating effects of a hepatitis C infection and years of heavy drinking.

Bassist Phil Lesh, whose dense, inventive playing powered the Grateful Dead and, following the 1995 death of guitarist Jerry Garcia, many of the San Francisco band’s touring reincarnations, died Friday. He was 84.⁠ ⁠

Read more about his life and legacy here:… pic.twitter.com/9aAJUji00A

— Variety (@Variety) October 25, 2024

Breaking News: Phil Lesh, a member of the Grateful Dead for its entire 30-year existence, died on Friday at 84. Lesh, who co-wrote some of the band’s best-known songs, was one of the first rock bassists whose instrument regularly took a lead role. https://t.co/m2h4fwrnb8 pic.twitter.com/Rxhp0cToWS

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 25, 2024

Per BBC:

The psychedelic band, which formed in California in 1965, split 30 years later following the death of frontman Jerry Garcia.

Lesh was with them from the beginning – and also joined the group’s other surviving members for reunion US tour in 2003 and a final series of concerts in 2015.

Lesh’s Instagram account said that he “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.”

With a distinctive trippy blend of rock, folk, and jazz, The Grateful Dead are arguably one of the most influential bands in American history, and wrote the soundtrack for the countercultural generation of the sixties.

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Lesh was born in Berkeley, California, in 1940. He started out as a violin player before switching to trumpet, and later to bass guitar when he joined The Grateful Dead in 1965.

For the next three decades his improvisational skills complemented the melodies of lead guitarist Jerry Garcia and bandmates Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzman and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan.

The Grateful Dead was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

“No band embodied the psychedelic rock era’s mind-expanding, counterculture vibe better than the Grateful Dead. During marathon concerts marked by communal, peaceful atmospheres, the San Francisco troupe combined traditional genres such as folk, bluegrass and roots with experimental, freewheeling musical excursions,” the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame wrote.

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