Grateful Dead Guitarist Bob Weir Has Died

Grateful Dead co-founding guitarist Bob Weir has died at age 78. Weir’s death was confirmed through a statement issued by his family on the guitarist’s social feeds.

Bobby Weir succumbed to underlying lung issues after a courageous battle with cancer. Weir was diagnosed with cancer last July and began treatment only weeks before taking the stage for what would be his final shows: Dead & Company’s concerts at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco August 1 – 3, 2025 celebrating 60 years of Grateful Dead music.

Read the full statement from Weir’s family below:

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.

Robert Hall Weir was born on October 16, 1947, in San Francisco, California, to John Parber and a birth mother whose identity remained unknown to him for decades. Shortly after birth, he was adopted by Frederic Utter Weir and Eleanor Cramer Weir, who raised him in Atherton, California. Weir eventually found his father and reconnected with Parber on a deep level late in life.

Weir’s early years were marked by academic struggles, later attributed to undiagnosed dyslexia. At age 13, Weir received his first guitar and quickly became obsessed with the instrument. He was largely self-taught, developing his own unique fingerpicking style and approach to rhythm guitar. His early influences included folk artists like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, as well as traditional American folk music.

In 1963, at age 16, Weir met Jerry Garcia at Dana Morgan’s Music Store in Palo Alto. They would soon form Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, a jug band that also included Ron “Pigpen” McKernan.

The jug band evolved as members were added and the musical direction shifted. By 1965, they had transformed into an electric rock band called The Warlocks, featuring Weir on rhythm guitar, Garcia on lead guitar, McKernan on keyboards and harmonica, Phil Lesh on bass, and Bill Kreutzmann on drums.

When they discovered another band was using the name “Warlocks,” the group rechristened themselves as the “Grateful Dead” from a dictionary entry identified by Garcia.

The Grateful Dead quickly became central figures in San Francisco’s late-1960s psychedelic scene. During this period, Weir began developing his distinctive rhythm guitar and vocal styles and started contributing songs to the Dead’s repertoire including “The Other One” and “One More Saturday Night.”

His compositions were frequently co-written with John Perry Barlow, who Weir met while attending high school in Colorado.The Weir-Barlow collaboration produced some of the Dead’s most beloved songs, including “Black-Throated Wind,” “Estimated Prophet,” “Hell in a Bucket,” “The Music Never Stopped,” and dozens of others.

In 1972, Weir released his first solo album, Ace, featuringmany of the members of the Dead. The album introduced tracks like “Cassidy” and “Playing in the Band,” which became staples of Dead concerts.

Following Ace, Weir formed Bobby & The Midnites in 1978, a side project that allowed him to explore different musical territories, including reggae, new wave, and mainstream rock. The band released two albums and allowed Weir to step out from the shadow of the Grateful Dead and establish himself as a bandleader.

Weir’s stage presence continued to evolve during this period. He developed a reputation as an engaging performer, often interacting with the audience and bringing theatrical elements to his performances.

The final decades of the Grateful Dead were marked by both triumph and tragedy. The band’s popularity reached new heights, with stadium tours and their first “hit” song, “Touch Of Grey.” Weir’s songwriting continued to evolve, producing later-career classics like “Throwing Stones” and “Hell in a Bucket.”

Weir performed the final Grateful Dead concert at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 9, 1995. One month later, Garcia died on August 9, 1995, bringing an end to the legendary band.

Following Garcia’s death, Weir focused on his side project RatDog with bassist Rob Wasserman. The band went through various lineup changes and initially became Weir’s primary vehicle for continuing to perform Grateful Dead music alongside new compositions and choice covers.

Weir participated in various Grateful Dead reunion projects, including The Other Ones (1998-2000) and The Dead (2003-2004, 2008-2010). These projects featured surviving Grateful Dead members and various guest musicians attempting to recreate the magic of the original band.

While these reunions had mixed reception from fans and critics, they provided Weir with opportunities to revisit the classic Grateful Dead repertoire and work with his longtime bandmates Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann. He also co-founded Furthur (2009-2014) with Phil Lesh.

In 2015, Weir joined Dead & Company, featuring Hart and Kreutzmann alongside guitarist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge and Ratdog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti. This collaboration brought Grateful Dead music to a new generation while providing a platform for continued musical exploration.

Dead & Co. tour extensively through 2023 (Kreutzmann left the group that year ahead of the Final Tour, with longtime RatDog member Jay Lane permanently replacing the drummer), and played residencies at the Las Vegas Sphere in 2024 and 2025. Dead & Company hosted a Grateful Dead 60th anniversary celebration in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in August 2025.

Weir formed Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros in 2018 with Don Was on bass and Lane on drums. The trio later expanded to add Chimenti on keyboards and six-piece string and brass ensemble called The Wolfpack. Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros played special concerts backed by orchestras in recent years.

Weir was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead in 1994. Weir was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Les Paul Spirit Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association.

Weir was the subject of the 2014 documentary feature film, The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir.

Weir and the Grateful Dead were members of the 2024 class of Kennedy Center Honors recipients. In 2025, the Grateful Dead were named MusiCares Persons of the Year.

Weir is survived by his wife, Natascha Münter Weir, and their daughters, Monet Weir and Chloe Kaelia Weir.