Phil Lesh, bassist for the Grateful Useless, died this morning (October 25), in accordance with an announcement on his official social media accounts. A reason for demise was not shared, simply that he “handed peacefully” and that he “was surrounded by his household and full of affection.” Lesh was 84 years outdated.
Philip Chapman Lesh was born and raised in Berkeley, California. He enrolled on the College of California, Berkeley, in 1961, the place he studied music and composition beneath the Italian composer Luciano Berio. He was additionally a classmate of Steve Reich on the college.
In 1965, Lesh, a bassist-in-training, joined Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, and Invoice Kreutzmann in a band known as the Warlocks. On Saturday, December 4, 1965, they adopted a brand new title for one in every of Ken Kesey’s Acid Check events, in San Jose: They had been the Grateful Useless.
Grateful Useless launched their first album, additionally known as Grateful Useless, in March 1967, however they had been simply as well-known throughout the Bay Space for his or her lengthy, free-form live shows. Extra albums adopted because the band’s acclaim and notoriety grew. Lesh didn’t take the lead, as a author or a singer, on many songs, however he did co-write the opening and shutting songs on 1970’s American Magnificence, “Field of Rain” and “Truckin’.” He additionally sang the lead vocals on “Field of Rain.” And, relating to “Truckin’,” Lesh as soon as stated, “We took our experiences on the street and made it poetry… the final refrain defines the band itself.”
Lesh was a fixture with the Grateful Useless till the band’s dissolution, in 1995, following the demise of Jerry Garcia. He quickly started performing with a rotating lineup of members as Phil Lesh and Mates. He didn’t, nonetheless, be part of his former bandmates within the revival act Useless & Firm.
Within the mid-2000s, Lesh wrote about his years with the Grateful Useless within the guide Trying to find the Sound. Round that point, the musician additionally revealed that he had been recognized with prostate most cancers, finally having surgical procedure to deal with it. Almost a decade later, he had bladder most cancers surgical procedure.
In a joint assertion, on Friday, the Grateful Useless’s Mickey Hart, Invoice Kreutzmann, and Bobby Weir stated:
