Today In History

he Grateful Dead was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area amid the rise of the counterculture of the 1960s. The founding members were Jerry Garcia guitar, vocals, Bob Weir guitar, vocals, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan keyboards, harmonica, vocals, Phil Lesh bass, vocals, and Bill Kreutzmann drums. Members of the Grateful Dead had played together in various San Francisco bands, including Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions and the Warlocks. Lesh was the last member to join the Warlocks before they became the Grateful Dead; he replaced Dana Morgan Jr., who had played bass for a few gigs. Drummer Mickey Hart and nonperforming lyricist Robert Hunter joined in 1967. With the exception of McKernan, who died in 1973, and Hart, who took time off from 1971 to 1974, the core of the band stayed together for its entire 30-year history. The other official members of the band are Tom Constanten keyboards; 1968–1970, John Perry Barlow lyrics; 1971–1995, Keith Godchaux keyboards; 1971–1979, Donna Godchaux vocals; 1972–1979, Brent Mydland keyboards, vocals; 1979–1990, and Vince Welnick keyboards, vocals; 1990–1995. Pianist Bruce Hornsby was a touring member from 1990 to 1992, as well as guesting with the band on occasion before and after. After the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, former members of the band, along with other musicians, toured as the Other Ones in 1998, 2000, and 2002, and the Dead in 2003, 2004, and 2009. In 2015, the four surviving core members marked the band's fiftieth anniversary in a series of concerts that were billed as their last performances together