Phil Lesh, Grateful Dead Co-Founding Bassist, Has Died at 84

(L–R) Members of The Dead Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, and Warren Haynes perform at The Forum in Los Angeles on May 9, 2009. Vince Bucci/Getty Images

Grateful Dead bassist and founding member, Phil Lesh, has died at the age of 84.

News of his death was announced through his official Instagram page, confirming Lesh passed away peacefully on Oct. 25 surrounded by family and “full of love.”

“Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love,” reads the statement. “We request that you respect the Lesh family’s privacy at this time.”

No cause of death has been disclosed.

Lesh is survived by his wife, Jill, whom he married in 1984, and his two sons Grahame and Brian.

Road to Grateful Dead

Born on March 15, 1940, the Berkeley, California, native always had an ear for music, playing the viola and trumpet in his youth before developing a love for composing.

While attending the University of California, Berkeley, in 1961, Lesh befriended Tom Constanten, who would later become the group’s keyboardist, before meeting future bandmate Jerry Garcia at a party in Menlo Park a couple years later.

At the time, Lesh dropped out of college and took up a volunteering gig at local radio station KPFA, where he suggested Garcia record one of his performances for broadcast.

As a result, Garcia invited Lesh to join his new rock band, then called “The Warlocks,” and play bass guitar, despite him never having picked up the instrument before.

Together, Lesh joined forces with Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann, Bob Weir, and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan in 1965 before the band renamed themselves the “Grateful Dead” by the end of that year.

Known for their eclectic style of music that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, bluegrass, and more, the group credited Lesh’s unconventional approach to playing his instrument as a key part to their sound.

Lesh notably co-wrote a number of songs for the rock group, including “Box of Rain,” “Unbroken Chain,” and “Truckin’.”

Performing more than two-thousand shows over his three-decade career, Lesh and the “Grateful Dead” also released 13 studio albums and dozens of live albums.

Lesh was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the “Grateful Dead” in 1994, before the group split the following year after the death of Garcia.

He went on to continue performing and touring with various other groups and even formed his own band named “Phil Lesh and Friends,” which featured different members over the years.

In 2005, Lesh added author to his resume, publishing his memoir “Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead.”

Throughout his life, Lesh faced some challenges with his health, beginning in the late 1990s when he received a liver transplant for hepatitis C that he had contracted decades prior.

In 2006, Lesh was diagnosed with prostate cancer and also battled bladder cancer almost a decade later, undergoing surgery for both.

Lesh was known for being an avid organ-donor advocate and for his philanthropic efforts, recently receiving the honor along with the “Grateful Dead” for MusiCares’ 2025 Person of the Year.