The Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh dies at the age of 84

Phil Lesh, bassist and founder of countercultural rock band The Grateful Dead, has died. He was 84 years old. His family posted the news on Lesh’s official Instagram page.

Born in Berkeley, California, in 1940, Lesh was initially drawn to classical music. As a child he played the violin before turning his attention to the trumpet, which he studied during high school and his time at the College of San Mateo. In the early 1960s, he met banjoist Jerry Garcia, who later asked him to join his rock band The Warlocks as a bassist – an instrument Lesh did not play. He accepted anyway, and in 1965 The Grateful Dead was born, with Lesh gradually finding his way into the improvisation-driven group.

“On a daily basis, the psychic lynchpin to the dead is Phil Lesh, the most aggressive of purists, the anti-philistine artist,” wrote Grateful Dead biographer Dennis McNally in his 2002 book. A long strange journey: the history of the grateful dead. “It is he who most often and most loudly demands that they dance as close as possible to the edge of the nearest abyss. Intellectual, kinetic, intense, he was once nicknamed Reddy Kilowatt in recognition of his high mental and physical speed.

The Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh (right), playing with drummer Bill Kreutzmann and singer Jerry Garcia in 1970.

Throughout The Dead’s decades of musical longevity and reinvention, Lesh sang lead vocals on some of the band’s most memorable songs, including “Box of Rain” from the 1970 album. American beautywhich he co-composed with longtime Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, and 1974’s ‘Unbroken Chain’ From the Marshotel.

This story will be updated.