Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of countercultural rock band The Grateful Dead, has died. He was 84 years old. His family posted the news on Lesh’s official Instagram page.
Born in Berkeley in 1940, Lesh was initially drawn to classical music. He played violin as a child before turning his attention to the trumpet, which he studied at Berkeley High School and the College of San Mateo. He later transferred to UC Berkeley and took graduate-level music courses at Mills College under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio.
In the early ’60s, while volunteering at KPFA, he met banjo player Jerry Garcia, who later asked him to join his rock band, The Warlocks, as their bassist — an instrument Lesh did not play. He accepted nonetheless, and in 1965, The Grateful Dead was born, with Lesh finding his footing in the improvisation-driven group as he went.