Grateful Dead founding member and bassist Phil Lesh has died, his family announced Friday.
Lesh, 84, died peacefully “surrounded by his family and full of love.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band has a long history of performing in Arizona.
The Grateful Dead made its first-ever Arizona appearance in April 1969 with a concert at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Two years later the band gave the classic song “Jack Straw” its live debut — written by Bobby Weir and Robert Hunter and including the line “half a mile from Tucson.”
In March 1970, the Dead caravan made its first Valley appearance with a 15-song show at Phoenix's Star Theatre, later to be renamed Celebrity Theatre.
The Grateful Dead then became regulars in Tempe. In November 1973 they played at Feyline Field at Tempe Diablo Stadium, which would kick off six straight Dead shows in Tempe, first at the ASU Activity Center in 1977 and then four shows at the original Compton Terrance from 1980 through 1983.
Shows followed at the next Compton Terrace incarnation, in Chandler, with five shows from 1977 through 1992.
Arizona continued to be a regular Dead tour stop, including a three-night run in 1994 at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre in Phoenix, which then went by the name Desert Sky Pavilion, as well as for ongoing band variations between members following the 1995 death of Jerry Garcia.
Lesh wasn’t a part of the Dead spinoff band Dead & Company, but, with another spinoff, The Dead, he was in the lineup in 2004 at Desert Sky Pavilion.
All those miles around the state helped inspire a Jerry Garcia Fan Club in 1996 to adopt a 2-mile stretch of Interstate 8, about 20 miles east of the Arizona-California border, between mile markers 20 and 21, according to ADOT.
In 2015, Lesh, who lived in Northern California from where the Grateful Dead emerged in 1965, announced he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and was being treated at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale.
MusiCares, an organization that helps music professionals who need financial, personal or medical assistance, honored the Grateful Dead on Wednesday of this week as its 2025 Persons of the Year.
MusiCares recognized original members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Weir and Lesh for their philanthropic efforts, their unique ability to foster community through concerts and for their impact on American music on the band’s 60th anniversary.
This undated file photo shows members of the Grateful Dead band, from left, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, Brent Mydland, Bill Kreutzmann, and Bob Weir.
(AP Photo/File)
A Jerry Garcia Fan Club in 1996 adopted a two-mile stretch of Interstate 8, about 20 miles east of the Arizona-California border, between mile markers 20 and 21, according to ADOT.
(Photo from Dead.net, the official website of The Grateful Dead)
Steve Stockmar
News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment
YourValley.net
sstockmar@iniusa.org
Meet Steve
Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.
Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.
Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.
Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.
Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.
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