Grateful Dead bassist and co-founder Phil Lesh dies aged 84
nme.comGrateful 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.A post shared by Phil Lesh (@phillesh)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).
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