Grateful Dead Founding Member and Bassist Phil Lesh Passes Away at 84

Photo Credit: Phil Lesh / Facebook

Grateful Dead founding member and bassist Phil Lesh has died, with his family confirming the news on social media. He was 84. No further information about his death was provided.Lesh revealed he battled bladder cancer in 2015 and underwent a liver transplant after a chronic hepatitis C infection in 1998. “He was surrounded by his family and full of love,” the official statement reads. “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.”

Phil Lesh was a classically trained trumpeter, but switched to playing bass at the request of Jerry Garcia after joining a band called the Warlocks. The Warlocks were soon renamed the Grateful Dead and was defined by Lesh’s self-taught style with jazz influences. Lesh co-wrote some of the band’s most well-known hits including “Truckin’,” “St. Stephen,” and “Box of Rain.”

Lesh initially provided backing vocals on the original 70s albums Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. “In terms of the Grateful Dead, Lesh said in an interview with Forbes, “the medium is the message in the sense that when you see us up there playing music, collaborating and making music together, making music that’s never been made before, there’s always some new element in it.”

The Grateful Dead toured and recorded from 1965 until the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995. “[Touring] was wildly successful for me until we took the break from touring [in the 70s],” Lesh shared with Rolling Stone in 2016. “When we came back, it was never quite the same. Even though it was great and we played fantastic music, something was missing.”In 2005, Phil Lesh wrote a memoir about his time with the Grateful Dead called ‘Searching For The Sound: My Life With the Grateful Dead.’ He continued to perform on stage long after his time with the band was over, with he and his wife Jill opening a restaurant and live music venue in 2012. He celebrated the Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary in 2015 during the Fare Thee Well shows in Chicago, appearing on stage with Trey Anastasio of Phish.

The Grateful Dead were recently named the MusiCares Persons of the Year for 2025 just this week. The award was to celebrate original surviving members Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir and the late Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan.