Phil Lesh, co-founder of The Grateful Dead, dies at the age of 84

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Phil Lesh, the innovative bassist and founder of The Grateful Dead, died on Friday, according to a statement posted on his Instagram account. He was 84 years old.

For thirty years, classically trained Lesh and Grateful Dead icon Jerry Garcia had a close musical collaboration that resulted in the eclectic California rock band’s psychedelic sound and famous on-stage improvisations.

The statement said Lesh “passed away peacefully” and was “surrounded by family and full of love.”

“Phil brought enormous joy to those around him and left behind a legacy of music and love.”

Lesh pioneered the developing electric bass sound in the 1960s, taking a more melodic, improvisational approach to an instrument that traditionally held more time, with chords dominating rather than in the background.

He was far from the band’s most prolific writer, but he co-wrote some of the Dead’s most famous and noteworthy songs – including “Dark Star” and “St. Stephen” and also sang harmonies for the band and, less frequently, leads vocals.

Born on March 15, 1940 in Berkeley, California, Lesh’s life as a musician began with playing the violin. Later he took up playing the trumpet and composed for orchestras, and his studies aroused his keen interest in avant-garde classical music and free jazz.

As a volunteer recording engineer at a local public radio station while studying under Italian modernist Luciano Berio, Lesh met bluegrass banjo player Garcia.

He joined Garcia’s new band, The Warlocks, in the fall of 1964 and took up playing bass.

He later said he was more inspired by Bach’s style of counterpoint – a classical music theory focusing on the relationships of harmonically interdependent musical parts – than by his contemporaries.

As the Grateful Dead, the band members became key figures in the counterculture of the 1960s and revolutionized fan engagement, with the “Deadheads” traveling from show to show.

Many followers recorded and exchanged illegal concert tapes and enjoyed a drug-filled camp together.

The Rockers disbanded in 1995, a few months after Garcia’s death.

“Jerry was the center of things,” Lesh later told Rolling Stone. “We were the spokes. And music was the tread of the wheel.”

Lesh continued to perform in the Dead tradition in various guises over the decades. In 2014, he ended his concert career.

In 1998, Lesh underwent a liver transplant after being infected with the hepatitis C virus, and used his concerts as a platform to encourage fans to become organ donors.

In 2015, he said he had a cancerous tumor in his bladder after battling prostate cancer in 2006.

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