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Membership
Lead guitarist Jerry Garcia was often seen both by the public and the media as the leader or primary spokesperson for the Grateful Dead, but was reluctant to be perceived that way, especially since he and the other group members saw themselves as equal participants and contributors to their collective musical and creative output.[8][9] Garcia, a native of San Francisco, grew up in the Excelsior District. One of his main influences was bluegrass music, and Garcia also performed—on banjo, one of his other great instrumental loves, along with the pedal steel guitar—in the bluegrass band Old and in the Way with mandolinist David Grisman.
Classically trained trumpeter Phil Lesh played bass guitar. Bob Weir, the youngest original member of the group, played rhythm guitar. Ron “Pigpen” McKernan played keyboards and harmonica and was also a group vocalist until shortly before his death in 1973 at the age of 27. All of the previously mentioned Grateful Dead members shared in vocal performance of songs. Bill Kreutzmann played drums, and in September 1967 was joined by a second drummer, New York native Mickey Hart, who also played a wide variety of other percussion instruments. Hart quit the Grateful Dead in February 1971, leaving Kreutzmann once again as the sole percussionist. Mickey Hart rejoined the Dead for good in October 1974. Tom “TC” Constanten was added as a second keyboardist from 1968 to 1970, while Pigpen also played various percussion instruments and sang.
After Constanten’s departure, Pigpen reclaimed his position as sole organist. Less than two years later, in late 1971, Pigpen was joined by another keyboardist, Keith Godchaux, who played grand piano alongside Pigpen’s Hammond B-3 organ. In early 1972, Keith’s wife, Donna Jean Godchaux, joined the Dead as a backing vocalist.
Following the Grateful Dead’s “Europe ’72″ tour, Pigpen’s health had deteriorated to the point that he could no longer tour with the Dead. His final concert appearance was June 17, 1972 at the Hollywood Bowl, in Los Angeles;[10] he died in March, 1973.[11]
Keith and Donna Jean left the band in 1979, and Brent Mydland joined as keyboardist and vocalist. Keith Godchaux died in a car accident in 1980. Mydland was the keyboardist for the Dead for 11 years until his death by narcotics overdose in July 1990,[12] becoming the third Dead keyboardist to pass away. Almost immediately, Vince Welnick, former keyboardist for The Tubes, joined on keyboards and vocals. For his first eighteen months with the Dead, Welnick was usually joined by Bruce Hornsby on piano. Hornsby had earlier occasionally appeared as an sit-in player beginning in 1988 (and he continued to do so after leaving the band), and he was invited to join the Grateful Dead after Mydland’s death,[13] but with an already-flourishing career outside of the Dead, he could not commit to a permanent membership; eventually, these outside commitments led to his quitting the band after the March, 1992 tour.[14] Welnick died on June 2, 2006, reportedly a suicide.[15]
Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow were the band’s primary lyricists. Owsley “Bear” Stanley was the Grateful Dead’s soundman for many years; he was also one of the largest suppliers of LSD.[16] Eleven members of The Grateful Dead were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and Bruce Hornsby was their presenter.
