Phil Lesh, the bass player who co-founded the legendary rock band the Grateful Dead, died Friday. He was 84 years old.
Lesh’s death was announced in a statement posted on his official website. Instagram account.
“Grateful Dead bassist and founding member Phil Lash passed peacefully this morning,” a statement released Friday said. “He was surrounded by his family and filled with love. Phil brought so much joy to everyone around him and left behind a legacy of music and love. We ask that you support the Lesh family at this time. Respect privacy.
The post stated the cause of his death.
Lesh’s death comes just two days after being named a Grateful Dead by the Recording Academy. 2025 Music Care Persons of the Year.
In addition to Lash, its surviving co-founders Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and the late Jerry Garcia were selected as honorees in recognition of their philanthropy and cultural impact.
The Grateful Dead will be honored at the 34th Annual Persons of the Year Benefit Gala on January 31 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Grammy AwardsAs the band approaches its 60th anniversary.
The oldest member of the Grateful Dead, Lash was born on March 15, 1940, in Berkeley, California. He grew up playing viola and trumpet at school before trying his hand at composing. He was admitted to UC Berkeley but… left Lash met Garcia at a house party in 1959 during his first semester. In his 2005 memoir, he said he was led to this chance encounter “as if by an invisible hand.”
They met again in 1964 when Lash attended a performance by Garcia’s band, the Warlocks. After the show, Garcia asked Lesh to join the band as bassist. Lesh had never played bass guitar before. Garcia then asked, “Didn’t you play the violin?” After Leash said, “Yeah,” Garcia replied, “You go, man.”
In 1965, Lesh performed with the Warlocks for the first time. In addition to gaining a new member, the band also got a new name: the Grateful Dead.
Lash was instrumental in creating the Grateful Dead’s iconic sound and on-stage gravitas. “When Phil’s going on, the band’s going on,” Garcia once said of lash capacity.
Bob Dylan wrote in his 2022 book “The Philosophy of Modern Singing,” “Lish is one of the most gifted bassists you’ll ever hear in subtlety and invention.” “
The Grateful Dead name was retired in 1995 after Gracia’s death. “Jerry was the center,” Lesh said Rolling Stone. “We were interpreters. And the music was playing on the wheel.”
But Lesh continued to keep the Dead alive, touring with former band members for several years in various iterations, including “More” and “The Dead.” The surviving founding members last played together in 2015 in a series of “Fare Thee Well” concerts celebrating the Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary.
“Today we lost a brother,” Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann, the band’s three surviving original members, said. said in a statement. “Phil Lash was irresistible. In one note of Phil Zone, you could hear and feel the world being born. His bass flowed like a river. It went where the music took it. He was an explorer of inner and outer space who just happened to play the bass and more.”
Lash also performed under the moniker Phil Lash & Friends, bringing in several generations of rock stars to perform with him as guests. Lesh’s last concerts in the New York area were in March at the Capitol Theater in Portchester, New York, where a five-night run concluded with his 100th.Th show at the historic venue since reopening in 2012.
gave Empire State Building Flash the tie-dye colors from 9pm to 10pm on Friday night to honor Lash’s legacy.
Credit : nypost.com
