Bob Weir, co-founding singer/guitarist for the Grateful Dead and their various offshoots, has passed away. "He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could," according to a statement posted on his website today that cites "underlying lung issues" as the cause of death. Weir was diagnosed with cancer last July, and he began treatment before playing three farewell shows with Dead & Company last year, his final live performance. Weir was 78.
Robert Hall Weir was born in San Francisco, where he was raised by wealthy adoptive parents. He started playing guitar as a child and at 16 met the slightly older Jerry Garcia, who was working as a music teacher in Palo Alto. After an evening playing music together, they decided to start a band. The two formed a folk duo called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, which evolved into an electric rock band called the Warlocks and then into the Grateful Dead.
The Grateful Dead played their first show under that name at one of Ken Kesey's acid tests in 1965. They quickly developed a reputation for sprawling, psychedelic improvisations, and they became a key institution in the Bay Area's counterculture. Weir and Garcia frequently shared lead-vocal duty, and Weir developed his own intricate form of rhythm guitar, closely intertwined with Garcia's leads and informed by country, jazz, and blues. Weir wrote or co-wrote Grateful Dead songs like "Sugar Magnolia," "Playing In The Band," and "One More Saturday Night," and he sang lead on the iconic track "Truckin'."
In 1972, Bob Weir released his debut solo album Ace, with his Grateful Dead bandmates backing him up. Later on, he also played with side projects like Kingfish and Bobby And The Midnites. But his main work was with the Grateful Dead, which remained a touring institution long after the excitement of the '60s drifted away. For decades, the Dead were a lifestyle as much as a band. Fans followed them around from show to show, trading bootleg tapes and debating which of their live shows were the best. Their tours were always more successful than their records, but they scored a one-off top-10 hit with the 1987 single "Touch Of Grey."
After Jerry Garcia's 1995 death, Bob Weir led the post-Dead band RatDog. He also took part in offshoots like the Other Ones, the Dead, Further, and Dead & Company, the version of the group with John Mayer that became a live institution in its own right and played two acclaimed residences as Las Vegas' Sphere in 2024 and 2025. Weir and his band Wolf Bros played a series of symphonic concerts in the past few years, and he was the subject of the 2014 documentary The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip Of Bob Weir. Along with the rest of the Dead, Weir was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1994 and presented with Kennedy Center Honors in 2024.
Here's the full statement from Weir's family.
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.
For over sixty years, Bobby took to the road. A guitarist, vocalist, storyteller, and founding member of the Grateful Dead. Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music. His work did more than fill rooms with music; it was warm sunlight that filled the soul, building a community, a language, and a feeling of family that generations of fans carry with them. Every chord he played, every word he sang was an integral part of the stories he wove. There was an invitation: to feel, to question, to wander, and to belong.
Bobby’s final months reflected the same spirit that defined his life. Diagnosed 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. 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.
There is no final curtain here, not really. Only the sense of someone setting off again. He often spoke of a three-hundred-year legacy, determined to ensure the songbook would endure long after him. May that dream live on through future generations of Dead Heads. And so we send him off the way he sent so many of us on our way: with a farewell that isn’t an ending, but a blessing. A reward for a life worth livin’.
His loving family, Natascha, Monet, and Chloe, request privacy during this difficult time and offer their gratitude for the outpouring of love, support, and remembrance. May we honor him not only in sorrow, but in how bravely we continue with open hearts, steady steps, and the music leading us home. Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings.
Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart shared this eulogy:
Bob Weir was a little brother to me for almost sixty years. He was my first friend in the Grateful Dead. We lived together, played together, and made music together that ended up changing the world. Bob had the ability to play unique chords that few others could. Long fingers, that’s the difference. Jerry once told me that the harmonics Bob created became an inspiration for his own solos. When all of us were entrained, rhythm section, guitars, and voices... it was transcendent. What was a lifetime of adventure boils down to something simple- we were family and true to the music through it all.
These photos show the bookends of our lives together. Still cannot believe he’s gone.
I miss you so much already, dear friend.
Dead & Company's John Mayer wrote:
Okay Bob. I’ll do it your way.
Fkn’ A…
Thanks for letting me ride alongside you. It sure was a pleasure.
If you say it’s not the end, then I’ll believe you.
I’ll meet you in the music.
Come find me anytime.JohnBo
And Phish’s Trey Anastasio, who performed with Weir at the 2015 Fare Thee Well shows celebrating the Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary and last year’s Golden Gate Park run celebrating their 60th, shared this tribute:
Sad to hear that my friend Bobby has passed on. This one really hurts. I really loved him. He was a sweet, kind, gentle friend, and I never believed this would happen so soon.
I knew Bobby for many years, but it was in the lead-up to Fare Thee Well that we really became close. I went out to his beach house, and we spent three nights there alone, just the two of us: playing guitar, cooking scrambled eggs, listening to records, working out, talking, and walking on the beach. We went out to dinner together, and he let me drive his new car. That was also when I first met Tascha, whom I love so much. Tascha, my heart is with you, Monet and Chloe today.
Bobby told me incredible stories about his life during those days at the beach house. He told me how he was still in high school when the first acid test happened. When it was over, the sun came out, and he had to do his math homework as he raced back to school on the train. He said after the second or third acid test, he looked down at his homework and said, “Nah.” And that was it. The rest of his life was on the road, in the Grateful Dead and other bands.
He told me stories about working on those classic Dead songs, what music the band was listening to as the songs were coming together. He said that when they were learning “Uncle John’s Band,” they were listening to the first CSN album and trying to harmonize like them. When they were learning “Help on the Way,” they were trying to sound like the Mahavishnu Orchestra. I found all of that endlessly fascinating.
Bobby was completely allergic to compliments in the most endearing way. I’d say, “Man, that guitar riff you were doing on that song sounded really killer” and he’d respond, “Well, I’m sure I’ll fuck it up next time.” I loved that about him.
The more I got to know Bobby, the more I liked him. I learned so much from him. He talked to me about all the loss around the Grateful Dead, so many friends who had died. He said that John Belushi was backstage at a Dead show the night before he died, looking very grey and unhealthy, and Bobby told him he might want to think about slowing down. I believe that all of that loss gave him a unique and beautiful perspective on life.
Mostly, he just loved playing, and I loved that about him. I don’t think he ever got caught up in the bigness. I don't think it meant anything to him. There were times when I was talking to him when I thought he was the last actual hippie. I remember when Mexico got canceled due to Covid, and he texted me, saying, "Man, you should fly down here, and we’ll just play on the beach, no stage!” That cracked me up. I almost did. Now I wish I had.
The last time I saw Bobby was at Dead 60. We had a nice laugh backstage, then I went and hung out with him and his beautiful family on his bus. I could tell his health was not what it used to be.
Rest in peace, Bobby. Thank you for all the gifts you brought into the world, and for all the love you gave to so many of us. Your spirit lives on forever. My heart is with Tascha and your beautiful daughters.
