Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir Is Dead at 78
This undated file photo shows members of the Grateful Dead, from left to right, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, Brent Mydland, Bill Kreutzmann, and Bob Weir. (AP Photo/File)
Bob Weir, the guitarist and singer whose work as a founding member of the Grateful Dead helped shape the sound of San Francisco’s 1960s counterculture and sustained it through decades of touring and improvisational performances, has died at 78.
Weir’s death was announced Saturday in a statement posted to his Instagram account, according to the Associated Press. “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir,” the statement said. “He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.”
Weir co-founded the Grateful Dead—originally known as the Warlocks—in San Francisco in 1965, when he was just 17 years old. He went on to spend the next three decades with the band alongside singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia, whose death in 1995 marked the end of the group’s original era.
As a songwriter and vocalist, Weir was responsible for or co-wrote several of the band’s best-known songs, including “Sugar Magnolia,” “One More Saturday Night,” and “Mexicali Blues.”
Following Garcia’s death, Weir became the most recognizable remaining face of the Grateful Dead. He continued performing for decades, leading and participating in projects that kept the band’s music and devoted fan base alive, most notably Dead & Company.
With Weir’s passing, drummer Bill Kreutzmann is now the only surviving original member of the band. Founding bassist Phil Lesh died in 2024. Drummer Mickey Hart, who joined the band in 1967 and is often considered a near-original member, is still alive at 82. The group’s fifth founding member, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, died in 1973.
Born in San Francisco and raised in nearby Atherton, Weir was the youngest member of the Grateful Dead. In the band’s early years, he appeared clean-cut and youthful compared with his bandmates, though in later years he adopted a long beard reminiscent of Garcia’s.
The Grateful Dead endured long after the height of the hippie movement, supported by a fiercely loyal following known as Deadheads, many of whom traveled from show to show during the band’s nearly nonstop touring years. Reflecting on the group’s legacy when the Dead were honored as MusiCares Person of the Year last year, Weir said longevity had never been the goal.
“Spreading joy through the music was all we ever really had in mind,” he said, “and we got plenty of that done.”
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