Not Fade Away: Bob Weir Dies at 78

Bob Weir, the singer, songwriter and founding member of the Grateful Dead, has died at 78.

His family released a statement on January 10: “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir. He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.”

Weir had been diagnosed with cancer in July. He “began treatment only weeks before returning to his hometown stage for a three-night celebration of 60 years of music at Golden Gate Park,” the statement notes. “Those performances, emotional, soulful, and full of light, were not farewells, but gifts. Another act of resilience. An artist choosing, even then, to keep going by his own design. As we remember Bobby, it’s hard not to feel the echo of the way he lived. A man driftin’ and dreamin’, never worrying if the road would lead him home. A child of countless trees. A child of boundless seas.”

Weir was born on October 16, 1947, in San Francisco. He was just sixteen years old when he met a 21-year-old Jerry Garcia in Palo Alto, and they later formed the jug band Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, which would evolve into the Warlocks and, ultimately, the Grateful Dead. In his role as rhythm guitarist/vocalist, Weir became known for his unique timing and transitions, bluesy vocals and denim short-shorts; he contributed to writing such songs as “Playing in the Band” and “Sugar Magnolia.”

In fact, Weir met lyricist John Barlow while he was attending school in Colorado. After struggling with dyslexia and failing classes, his parents sent him to boarding school at Fountain Valley School of Colorado in Colorado Springs for his sophomore year of high school (1962-’63), where he met Barlow, who went on to pen such songs as “Cassidy,” “Estimated Prophet,” “The Music Never Stopped,” “Black-Throated Wind” and more. Barlow became a mainstay of the Grateful Dead, and introduced the band to LSD advocate and Harvard professor Timothy Leary.

Weir returned to the school for his would-be graduating class’s fiftieth reunion and the school’s 85th anniversary in 2015. He was inducted into the school’s arts guild, received an honorary diploma and even played a few Dead songs with a local band, the Fever, at the event.

In honor of Weir, the Boulder Theater will be hosting a vigil and celebration-of-life show tonight, January 11, featuring Shakedown Street, members of Young and Dead, and more. The event is free; doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m.

Weir had discussed grief and Jerry Garcia during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live: “I gotta say, I don’t grieve all that ferociously about anybody’s passing. … I just carry them with me. I’m of the persuasion that life is eternal and we reincarnate and so there’s a really limited point in grieving your own loss when you should feel happy for their liberation.”

Read more about Weir in our article “A Look Back at the Grateful Dead’s Colorado Connections.”