Phil Lesh, founding member of The Grateful Dead, dies at 84
Phil Lesh performs as Phil Lesh & Friends during the Great South Bay Music Festival at Shorefront Park on July 22, 2023 in Patchogue, New York. (Photo by Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images)
Phil Lesh, bassist and one of the founding members of The Grateful Dead, has died, according to an Instagram post published on the band’s official account.
Lesh passed peacefully Friday morning, the post said.
"He was surrounded by his family and full of love," it continued. "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."
Cause of death not revealed
The statement shared by the band on Instagram did not share specifics on Lesh's cause of death.
Lesh had previously survived bouts of prostate cancer, bladder cancer and a 1998 liver transplant necessitated by the debilitating effects of a hepatitis C infection and years of heavy drinking.
Beloved musician of a legendary band
Phillip Chapman Lesh was born on March 15, 1940, in Berkeley, California, the only child of Frank Lesh, an office equipment repairman, and his wife, Barbara.
He would say in later years that his love of music came from listening to broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic on his grandmother’s radio. One of his earliest memories was hearing the great German composer Bruno Walter lead that orchestra through Brahms’ First Symphony.
Musical influences he often cited were not rock musicians but composers like Bach and Edgard Varese, as well as jazz greats like John Coltrane and Miles Davis.
Lesh had gravitated from classical music to cool jazz by the time he arrived at the College of San Mateo, eventually becoming first trumpet player in the school’s big band and a composer of several orchestral pieces the group performed.
But he set the trumpet aside after college, concluding he didn’t have the lung power to become an elite player.
Soon after he took up the bass, The Warlocks renamed themselves the Grateful Dead and Lesh began captivating audiences with his dexterity. Crowds gathered in what came to be known as "The Phil Zone" directly in front of his position on stage.
Although he was never a prolific songwriter, Lesh also composed music for, and sometimes sang, some of the band’s most beloved songs. Among them were the upbeat country rocker "Pride of Cucamonga," the jazz-influenced "Unbroken Chain" and the ethereally beautiful "Box of Rain."
Lesh composed the latter on guitar as a gift for his dying father, and he recalled that Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, upon hearing the instrumental recording, approached him the next day with a lyric sheet. On that sheet, he said, were "some of the most moving and heartfelt lyrics I’ve ever had the good fortune to sing."
The band often closed its concerts with the song.
In later years he usually held those performances at "Terrapin Crossroads," a restaurant and nightclub he opened near his Northern California home in 2012, which was named after the Grateful Dead song and album "Terrapin Station."
Lesh is survived by his wife, Jill, and sons Brian and Grahame.