Phil Lesh, Grateful Dead Founding Bassist, Dies at 84

Phil Lesh—co-founder and bassist of the iconic California-born counterculture band the Grateful Dead—"passed peacefully" on Friday morning, according to a post on his Instagram account.

"He was surrounded by his family and full of love," the post continued. "Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love."

Lesh revealed in 2015 that he was battling bladder cancer, although his cause of death has not yet been made public.

Along with lead guitarist and vocalist Jerry Garcia, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Bob Weir, keyboardist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, and drummer Bill Kreutzmann, Lesh founded the Grateful Dead in Palo Alto, California in 1965. The band debuted at one of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests that same year. By 1966, the Dead were prolific performers at psychedelic events in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

As Rolling Stonereported Friday:

From the time of the Dead's earliest incarnation as the Warlocks, Lesh enjoyed an intimate three-decade-long partnership with lead guitarist Jerry Garcia. He also claimed responsibility for their long-form improvisation inclinations, electronic experiments, and nightly free-form "space" interludes. After the group dissolved in 1995 due to Garcia's death, Lesh went on to become an active keeper of its live flame in various configurations with former band members and in several iterations of Phil Lesh and Friends. The latter included numerous guests from the extended multigenerational improvised-rock community.

The Grateful Dead played "electric chamber music," according to Lesh, whose primary influence as a bassist was Johann Sebastian Bach's style of counterpoint (the relationship of two independent yet interdependent musical voices). When not dropping his infamous "bass bombs," he played his instrument as though it were a low guitar, usually with a pick, and often like a lead instrument.

"When Phil's happening the band's happening," Garcia once said of Lesh.

Among the Dead songs co-written by Lesh—a classically trained musician—are "Box of Rain" and "Unbroken Chain"—both widely considered psychedelic masterpieces.

In his 2022 book, The Philosophy of Modern Song, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan called Lesh "one of the most skilled bassists you'll ever hear in subtlety and invention" and "a postmodern jazz musical rock-and-roll dynamo."

Lesh is survived by his wife, Jill, his sons Brian and Grahame, and his grandson, Levon.