Grateful Dead founding member bassist Phil Lesh dies aged 84

Bassist Phil Lesh, one of the founding members of the legendary band Grateful Dead, died on Friday. He was 84.

The sound that Lesh and the group's other musicians created, with its incarnation in and around San Francisco, became a defining element of the burgeoning culture of psychedelic music and style in the mid-1960s.

A message posted by Lesh's representatives on social media spoke of his final moments and the mark he left on culture and art.

“He was surrounded by his family and full of love,” read a message on Lesh’s Instagram account. “Phil brought great joy to everyone around him and leaves a legacy full of music and love. We ask that you respect the Lesh family’s privacy during this time.”

The American rock band Grateful Dead became a symbol of a kind of psychedelic-inspired counterculture in which the term “flower power” described the groovy hippies of the 1960s who explored their free spirit and cannabis culture.

Known for their long sets and improvisational style, the Grateful Dead became one of the most successful touring bands in rock music history. All this and the band had almost no success on mainstream radio.

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Lesh founded the group as a founding member with singer Jerry Garcia, guitarist and vocalist Bob Weir and keyboardist Ron McKernan.

Garcia died in California in 1995.

Variety reported that Lesh received classical training as a trumpeter and also studied avant-garde styles with composer Luciano Berio. He was first recruited by Garcia – his boyfriend at the time – to be a bass player. After the show at a pizzeria in Menlo Park, California, with a band called The Warlocks fronted by Garcia, the rest is history.

Historian Dennis McNally wrote in his 2002 book “A Long Strange Trip” about how well Garcia and Lesh played together over the years.

In a sample chapter posted online, McNally writes of Lesh that he “looks like a monkey, his face is distorted, he almost duck-walks across the stage toward Garcia and then backs away, his head bobbing. Weir gets a particularly goofy, ecstatic grin, and inspiration spreads brightly.” The stage erupts into double time, the band breaking out as one in a concentrated line, reaching its crescendo once again.

Variety confirmed that Lesh is survived by his wife Jill and their sons, who are musicians.

This story was originally published by Scripps News with reporting from Scripps News Richmond.