Grateful Dead Bassist Phil Lesh Dead at 84
Phil Lesh, the Grateful Dead’s founding bassist who also changed how the instrument was played, has died. He was 84. Lesh “passed peacefully this morning,” according to his Instagram, and “was surrounded by his family and full of love.” Lesh played violin as a child before learning trumpet in high school, which he continued into college. At the University of California, Berkeley, he met Tom Constanten, who would go on to play keys in the Dead, and later crossed paths with Jerry Garcia, then a bluegrass musician, while volunteering at Berkeley’s public-radio station. Lesh dropped out of U.C. Berkeley in his first semester and was working odd jobs when Garcia asked him to play bass in a band called the Warlocks. Lesh learned to play the instrument when he joined the band, which was soon renamed the Grateful Dead.
Lesh was one of the Grateful Dead’s constants, playing from 1965 until Garcia’s death and its disbanding in 1995. In the band, Lesh was an innovator on bass guitar, emphasizing the instrument in a way it hadn’t been in much of the era’s rock music. Lesh was also known for his 1974 “Ned and Phil” intermission sets with synthesizer player Ned Lagin. After the Grateful Dead broke up, Lesh performed alongside his bandmates in the Other Ones and The Dead. He also formed another band, Phil Lesh and Friends, with a rotating cast of musicians, which he performed with off and on until his death. Lesh did not join Dead & Company in 2015, instead choosing to focus on his own work.
With the Grateful Dead, Lesh was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked Lesh No. 11 on a list of the best bassists of all time, writing that he “made us hear the bass in a new way.” Lesh’s death comes as the Grateful Dead are set to be recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors in December, and just days after MusiCares announced the Dead would be its 2025 Persons of the Year. In joint statements, Lesh and his bandmates dedicated both honors to their fans.
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