The Grateful Dead greet bassist Phil Lesh as their ‘brother’

The Grateful Dead have hailed the band’s late bassist Phil Lesh as their “brother.”

They paid tribute to the musician after the guitarist died “peacefully” at the age of 84 on Friday morning (26.10.24), in a joint statement from the iconic psychedelic band’s surviving members, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann.

Referring to Phil’s wife and children, the group said on Instagram: “Today we lost a brother. Our hearts and love go out to Jill Lesh, Brian and Grahame. Phil Lesh was irreplaceable.”

In tribute to Phil’s guitar style, they added: “In one note from the Phil Zone you could hear and feel the world being born.

“His bass flowed like a river would flow. It went where the muse took it.

“He was an explorer of indoor and outdoor space and happened to play bass. “He was a explorer of previously unknown musical worlds. And more.”

Phil’s bandmates added that they could “count on the fingers of one hand” and that the people they can say had “an equally profound influence on our development – in every way.”

They added that there have been “even fewer people who have done this continuously over the decades” in music and “will continue to do so as long as we live” – saying Phil was a “gift” to the dead.

The statement continued: “We won’t say he will be missed, because at any given time, nothing we do will be without the lessons he taught us – and the lessons yet to come, as the conversations continue. ”

Born in Berkeley, California, Phil met his future Dead bandmate Jerry Garcia in 1962 at a party in Menlo Park.

In 1965, Phil, Jerry, Bill, Bob and Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan played their first gig under the name The Warlocks and by the end of the year the group became known as The Grateful Dead – often referred to as The Dead by the army of dedicated people . ‘Dead Heads’ followers.

The band released thirteen studio albums together, as well as dozens of live albums, with Mickey Hart joining as drummer in 1967.

Pianist Ron died in 1973 and the group had several members over the years, including keyboardist Brent Mydland, before the band split in 1995 following Jerry’s death at age 53 the same year.