Legendary Grateful Lifeless founding member and guitarist Bob Weir has died, his household has introduced. He was 78, and had been present process remedy for most cancers since final yr.

In a press release posted to Instagram, Weir’s household paid tribute to the massively influential musician, stating: “It’s with profound disappointment that we share the passing of Bobby Weir. He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by family members, after courageously beating most cancers as solely Bobby might. Sadly, he succumbed to underlying lung points.”

Weir co-founded the Grateful Lifeless in 1965 alongside fellow guitarist Jerry Garcia. The Lifeless would grow to be a massively influential and enduring musical pressure that transcended the San Francisco counterculture they grew out of. They might go on to grow to be the best jam band of all of them, with a songbook of timeless classics and a military of devoted followers – Deadheads – that continued to develop and diversify with every passing technology.

The Grateful Lifeless have been a outstanding anachronism in American music. That they had only one Prime 40 hit of their total profession (1987’s Contact of Gray). However have been one of the crucial widespread and enduring touring acts within the nation, emphasising the outstanding energy of the Lifeless’s dwell expertise and the distinctive neighborhood it fostered.

The Grateful Lifeless correct ended with the premature passing of Jerry Garcia in 1995, however Weir and different surviving members of the band continued to tour and maintain the music alive – first as The Different Ones after which, from 2010, teaming up with John Mayer to type Lifeless & Co.

Lifeless & Co would convey the magic of the Greatful Lifeless’s music to a complete new technology, resulting in sold-out excursions till 2022, a outstanding Las Vegas Sphere residency in 2024 and eventually, a three-day hometown run at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in July 2025 that marked 60 years of The Lifeless, and could be an unplanned however becoming coda to Weir’s unbelievable legacy.

Unsurprisingly given the massive affect he had on American music, the guitar world united from all corners to pay tribute to Weir as information of his passing broke.

“He was all the time able to ‘Kick up a fuss’,” wrote bluegrass phenom Billy Strings on Instagram. “He all the time had boundless time and information to share with everybody and was really one of many kindest individuals I’ve ever identified. The world is a greater place due to him. I’m extraordinarily grateful to have crossed paths with him on this life.”

“This man was such a hero,” wrote Coronary heart’s Nancy Wilson. “The world is a sadder place with out him in it. He unfold a lifetime of magic round and all the time had that twinkle of fine nature in his eyes. His good vibrations won’t ever finish. He gave such a present to us all.”

Phish’s Trey Anastasio paid heartfelt tribute to Weir in a prolonged put up on Instagram, however was eager to focus on his modesty and self-depracating sense of humour: “Bobby was fully allergic to compliments in probably the most endearing manner. I’d say, ‘Man, that guitar riff you have been doing on that tune sounded actually killer’ and he’d reply, ‘Properly, I’m positive I’ll fuck it up subsequent time.’ I cherished that about him.”

Don Was, who performed with Weir within the Wolf Bros highlighted the facility Weir as a dwell musician, “Evening after night time, he taught us the right way to method music with fearlessness and unbridled soul – pushing us past what we thought was musically attainable,” he wrote. “Each present was a transcendent journey into the unknown. Each notice he performed and each phrase he sang was designed to convey consolation and pleasure to our audiences.”

Maggie Rogers was one other paying tribute to Weir’s embracing of younger musicians: “This man confirmed me a lot kindness so early in my profession,” she wrote. “And welcomed me right into a spirit of creating music that has all the pieces to do with neighborhood and connection and soul, and all the time with a twinkling of excellent mischief on the edges.”

Joe Satriani merely and poignantly posted, “It was an honour to know you and share the stage with you.”

Weir’s passing follows on from the dying of bassist Phil Lesh in 2024, and leaves drummer Invoice Kreutzmann as the one surviving founding member of the band. Regardless, Weir’s household believes that it was his dream and want that the band’s music carried on lengthy after him.

“There is no such thing as a last curtain right here, not likely,” wrote the household’s assertion on Instagram. “Solely the sense of somebody setting off once more. He usually spoke of a three-hundred-year legacy, decided to make sure the songbook would endure lengthy after him. Could that dream dwell on by means of future generations of Lifeless Heads. And so we ship him off the best way he despatched so many people on our manner: with a farewell that isn’t an ending, however a blessing. A reward for a life price livin’.”