Grateful Dead bassist Bob Weir dies, aged 78

2026, January 15

United States

On Saturday, the family of American musician and songwriter Bob Weir announced that he had died surrounded by loved ones. The former guitarist and vocalist of the rock band Grateful Dead was 78. His family announced his death via Instagram, noting that he had recently fought a cancer diagnosis but died due to "underlying lung issues". The announcement did not specify the date of Weir's death.

Weir played rhythm guitar and sang with American psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead for decades, and also wrote some of their songs, including the hit "Sugar Magnolia", a staple of Grateful Dead concerts. He also had a long solo career, making various groups with fellow Grateful Dead alumni, and playing live until months before his death.

Weir was born Robert Hall Parber on October 16, 1947, in San Francisco, California, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, spending some time going to school in Colorado, where he met future Grateful Dead member John Perry Barlow. Weir started playing guitar at age 13 and gravitated to a local bluegrass scene, where he first encountered Jerry Garcia playing banjo. On December 31, 1965, Garcia and Weir agreed to form their own group called Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, which evolved into the Grateful Dead.

Weir played rhythm guitar, and sang for the group, for decades. He also explored a solo career and variety of other groups outside of the Grateful Dead starting in the 1970s, including Kingfish, Bobby and the Midnites, RatDog, Furthur, The Other Ones, The Dead, Wolf Bros, and Dead & Company. All groups featured fellow Grateful Dead collaborators and explored genres from country rock to jam band to jazz-influenced roots rock with a basis in blues and country. His vocal contributions were mostly only harmonies and as a backup singer, but he took lead on several tracks, including Grateful Dead anthem "Truckin'", a song noted by the Library of Congress as a national treasure in 1997.

Outside of musical performance, Weir has also established Tamalpais Research Institute, a virtual performance platform, and was active in politics, advocating for several causes, including environmentalism, poverty relief, and issues related to the arts. He had stayed active in the Bay Area music scene, performing live with local musicians and co-owning the venue Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California. He is survived by wife Natascha and daughters Chloe and Monet, as well as other family.