One of the founding members of the Grateful Dead, brilliant guitarist and writer of many of the group’s key songs
Though perhaps not as instantly recognisable as the band’s guru-like lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, who has died from cancer aged 78, was an indispensable pillar of the Grateful Dead as guitarist, singer and songwriter.
Weir, Garcia and their bandmates first came together in San Francisco in 1965, and would become integral players in the psychedelia boom and the city’s summer of love in 1967, fuelled by the mind-expanding drug LSD.
Blending influences from rock, blues, country and folk music, they developed a unique form of collective improvisation that might see a single song stretching out to 45 minutes. Meanwhile the group’s egalitarian philosophy encouraged fans to record their live shows, and their loyal battalions of “Deadheads” would follow the group everywhere they played, like a nation on the move.
But the band proved to have far greater influence and staying power than most of their contemporaries, and continued to work collectively until 1995, when Garcia died, subsequently performing and recording in a variety of solo and collective guises until last year.
