The Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead had the most "musicianly" background, including banjo and guitar player Jerry Garcia, blues musician "Pigpen" McKernan, the classically trained Phil Lesh and drummer Bill Kreutzmann. In addition, the Grateful Dead most embodied "all the elements of the San Francisco scene.

Original Band Members:

Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals (1965 - 1995)

Bob Weir - guitar vocals (1965 - 1995)

Phil Lesh - bass, vocals (1965 - 1995)

Bill Kreutzmann - drums (1965 - 1995)

Ron "Pigpen" McKernan - keyboards, vocals, harmonica, percussion (1965 - 1973)

Other Members:

Mickey Hart - drums (1967 - 1971, 1974 - 1995)

Tom Constanten - keyboards (1968 - 1970)

Keith Godchaux - keyboards (1971 - 1979)

Donna Jean Godchaux - vocals (1972 - 1979)

Brent Mydland - vocals, keyboards (1979 - 1990)

Vince Welnick - vocals, keyboards (1990 - 1995)

Career:

The Grateful Dead's careers began, under the name "The Warlocks," in Palo Alto, California. They eventually moved to the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco. Many bands from this area—such as Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother & the Holding Company, and Santana—went on to national fame, giving San Francisco an image as a center for the hippie counterculture of the era. (Also see entry for the San Francisco Sound.) Of these bands, the Grateful Dead had the most "musicianly" background, including banjo and guitar player Jerry Garcia, blues musician "Pigpen" McKernan, the classically trained Phil Lesh and drummer Bill Kreutzmann. In addition, the Grateful Dead most embodied "all the elements of the San Francisco scene and came, therefore, to represent the counterculture to the rest of the country"

The Grateful Dead (a name chosen at random from a dictionary—some claim it was a Funk & Wagnalls, others an Oxford Dictionary—by Jerry Garcia) became the de facto resident band of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, with the early sound heavily influenced by Kesey's LSD-soaked Acid Tests, as well as R&B. Their musical influences varied widely with input from the psychedelic music of the era, combined with blues, jazz, rock and roll, and bluegrass. These various influences were distilled into a diverse and psychedelic whole that made the Grateful Dead "one of the most experimental and improvisatory bands in the jam band world.

The Grateful Dead had it's genesis as Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions with guitarists Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir and keyboardist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan. In 1965 the group changed it name to the Warlocks, and their line-up now included Phil Lesh on bass and Bill Kreutzmann on drums. This was to become the first personnel for The Grateful Dead, as they became known later that year. At this time The Grateful Dead were already the house band at author Ken Kesey's Acid Tests, which were public LSD parties (this was prior to the drug's criminalization). Their music was a hybrid of rock, blues and R&B, with extended improvisation. Because of a huge local following, The Grateful Dead signed with MGM records in 1966, but their demo sessions were unproductive and the label dropped them. In 1967 The Grateful Dead signed with Warner Bros. and finally released a debut LP, The Grateful Dead. They also performed at the Monterey Pop Festival that year, and added second drummer Mickey Hart. The Grateful Dead became popular on the strength of their live performances and improvisations, and after trying to capture the feeling of those performances on two more records, they released a live album Live/Dead in 1969.

Following Live/Dead, The Grateful Dead issued two classic 1970 studio albums, Workingman's Dead and American Beauty, which focused on the group's country and folk roots. The two albums contained some of The Grateful Dead's most popular songs - "Uncle John's Band," "Casey Jones," "Sugar Magnolia" and "Truckin'", and were heavily drawn from in their concerts for years to come. Their live shows became increasingly popular, with many fans, known as Deadheads, following them from city to city. They released two more live albums in the next two years, finishing up their Warner Bros. contract.

In 1973, Pigpen McKernan, died. He was heavy drinker who died of liver

failure. McKernan was replaced by Keith Godchaux. Godchaux brought his wife Donna with him to sing backing vocals for the group. The Dead started their own label, Grateful Dead Records, and released two more albums. They took a break from touring in 1973 so the members could focus on solo music. The Grateful Dead returned in 1976, now on Arista Records. In 1979, Keith and Donna Godchaux were asked to leave because of Keith's drug problems, and he died a year later. Brent Mydland replaced him on keyboards.

The dead recorded another studio album with Arista, Go To Heaven in 1980, and although they continued touring, The Grateful Dead did not return to the studio for seven years until 1987's In the Dark. In the Dark became an unlikely hit, and the Dead had their first Top 10 single, "Touch of Grey". A new younger generation of fans became Deadheads, and the band became one of the biggest touring acts in the US. In 1990 Mydland died of a drug overdose and he was replaced by ex-Tubes keyboardist Vince Welnick and also by Bruce Hornsby. The Grateful Dead continued played to huge audiences for five years until the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, after which the group disbanded. Weir and Hart started the Furthur Festival in 1996 an annual summer tour headlined by their bands Ratdog and Mystery Box. The remaining members of the Grateful Dead also toured in 1998, without Kreutzmann, as the Other Ones.

Members of the Group:

Bandleader Jerry Garcia was the lead guitarist for the band—although he was often seen both by the public and the media as 'leader' or a primary spokesperson for the Grateful Dead, it was a role he reluctantly found himself placed into, especially since Garcia and the other group members saw themselves as equal participants and contributors to their collective musical and creative output. Jerry was a native of San Francisco and grew up in the Excelsior District. One of the main influences on his musical style was bluegrass music, and Garcia also performed—on banjo, his other great instrumental love—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, 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, although none of them had a particularly strong or tuneful voice. 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 1971, embarrassed by the actions of his father, Dead money manager Lenny Hart (about whom the song "He's Gone" is said to have been penned), leaving Kreutzmann once again as the sole percussionist. Hart rejoined the Dead for good in 1974. Tom "TC" Constanten played keyboards alongside Pigpen from 1968 to 1970. 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. Keith and Donna left the band in 1979, and Brent Mydland joined as keyboardist and vocalist. Keith Godchaux died in a car accident in 1980. Brent Mydland was the keyboardist for the Dead for 11 years until his death in 1990. He became the third Dead keyboardist to die. Almost immediately, former Tubes keyboardist Vince Welnick joined on keyboards and vocals. For a year and a half, Welnick was often joined by special guest Bruce Hornsby on piano. 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.