Phil Lesh, Grateful Dead Bassist And Co-Founder, Dies Aged 84
Phil Lesh, Grateful Dead co-founder, bassist and vocalist died yesterday (25 October), according to a statement on his official social media accounts. A cause of death was not shared, just that he “passed peacefully” and that he “was surrounded by his family and full of love.” Lesh was 84 years old.
His bandmates Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir shared the following statement: “Today we lost a brother. Our hearts and love go out to Jill Lesh, Brian and Grahame. Phil Lesh was irreplaceable. In one note from the Phil Zone, you could hear and feel the world being born. His bass flowed like a river would flow. It went where the muse took it. He was an explorer of inner and outer space who just happened to play bass. He was a circumnavigator of formerly unknown musical worlds. And more.
“We can count on the fingers of one hand the people we can say had as profound an influence on our development – in every sense. And there have been even less people who did so continuously over the decades and will continue to for as long as we live. What a gift he was for us. We won’t say he will be missed, as in any given moment, nothing we do will be without the lessons he taught us – and the lessons that are yet to come, as the conversations will go on.
“Phil loved the Dead Heads and always kept them in his heart and mind. The thing is… Phil was so much more than a virtuoso bass player, a composer, a family man, a cultural icon…
“There will be a lot of tributes, and they will all say important things. But for us, we’ve spent a lifetime making music with Phil Lesh and the music has a way of saying it all. So listen to the Grateful Dead and, in that way, we’ll all take a little bit of Phil with us, forever.
“For this is all a dream we dreamed one afternoon, long ago… – Mickey, Billy and Bobby”