Bob Weir, the singer, songwriter, and guitarist who helped build the Grateful Dead into one of the most enduring forces in American music, has died. He was 78.
News of Weir’s death was confirmed Saturday in a statement posted to his official website and social media accounts. According to his family, Weir had been diagnosed with cancer in July, successfully completed treatment, but later died from complications related to underlying lung issues.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir,” the family said. “He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.”
As a founding member of the Grateful Dead, Weir was a defining presence for more than six decades, blending folk, blues, country, jazz, and psychedelia into a sound — and culture — that reshaped live music. Alongside Jerry Garcia, Weir served as the band’s co-lead vocalist and rhythmic anchor, developing a guitar style that was angular, intuitive, and unmistakably his own.
Born in San Francisco on October 16, 1947, Weir met Garcia in 1965, a chance encounter that led to the formation of the Grateful Dead and a “long strange trip” that spanned generations. Even after Garcia’s death in 1995, Weir remained on the road, carrying the music forward through projects like RatDog and later Dead & Company, which introduced the Dead’s catalog to a new era of fans.
Weir’s family emphasized that his final months reflected the same spirit that defined his life. Diagnosed in July, he returned to the stage weeks later for a three-night 60th anniversary celebration in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park — performances they described as “not farewells, but gifts.”
“There is no final curtain here, not really,” the family wrote. “Only the sense of someone setting off again… a farewell that isn’t an ending, but a blessing.”
He is survived by his wife, Natascha, and daughters Monet and Chloe, who have requested privacy while thanking fans for the outpouring of love.
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