Bob Weir & Wolf Bros performing in 2019. Picture: Jami Philbrick.
Preview:
- Grateful Useless co-founder Bob Weir has died aged 78.
- He was an influential musician and remembered as a heat, loving man.
- He had been identified with most cancers final 12 months.
Bob Weir, the guitarist, singer and co-founder of the enduring rock band the Grateful Useless, has died on the age of 78, his household confirmed in a heartfelt assertion on social media.
Finest recognized for his pioneering rhythm guitar, songwriting, and stressed touring spirit with the Grateful Useless and its many offshoots, Weir’s affect on rock, folks, blues, and jam band tradition spanned greater than 60 years.
Launch Date: Apr 20, 2014
Run Time: 1 hr 25 min
Musicians, followers, and collaborators around the globe are celebrating the life and legacy of a real musical drive.
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Bob Weir: Early Life and Profession
Bob Weir in 1977’s ‘The Grateful Useless Film’. Picture: Grateful Useless.
Born Robert Corridor Parber on October 16, 1947, in San Francisco and raised in close by Atherton, Weir’s musical journey started in adolescence. He picked up guitar at age 13 and, as a teen, met Jerry Garcia — an opportunity encounter that will change the course of rock historical past.
In 1965, at simply 17 years outdated, Weir co-founded the band that turned the Grateful Useless, initially often called the Warlocks. His creative “counter-lead” model of rhythm guitar turned one of many group’s defining sounds and helped propel the band’s countless touring and genre-blending explorations.
Bob Weir: A Life in Music
Bob Weir & Wolf Bros performing in 2018. Picture: Jami Philbrick.
For greater than three a long time with the Grateful Useless, Weir contributed vocals and wrote or co-wrote many beloved songs, together with “Sugar Magnolia,” “One Extra Saturday Night time,” “Mexicali Blues,” and others that turned staples of the band’s dwell exhibits and the broader rock canon.
After the loss of life of Garcia in 1995, Weir remained a central determine within the persevering with legacy of the Useless, performing with teams akin to The Different Ones, The Useless, RatDog, Furthur and — most just lately — Useless & Firm, which launched the music to new generations.
Throughout a profession that noticed him bridge musical worlds — from psychedelia and blues to Americana and jazz-inflected improvisation — Weir embodied a stressed creativity and deep reference to audiences.
Bob Weir: Offstage
Bob Weir & Wolf Bros performing in 2018. Picture: Jami Philbrick.
Although Bob Weir was a public determine whose life was lived on levels around the globe, these near him bear in mind his heat, wit, and beneficiant spirit.
His household famous his passing in a press release on social media:
“It’s with profound disappointment that we share the passing of Bobby Weir. He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by family members, after courageously beating most cancers as solely Bobby may. Sadly, he succumbed to underlying lung points.”
Weir’s method to music was intertwined along with his view of neighborhood — whether or not by way of the Useless’s devoted fanbase often called Deadheads or by way of his longtime help of social and political engagement.
He’s survived by his spouse, Natascha Muenter, and their daughters, Shala Monet and Chloe Kaelia.
Bob Weir: Legacy
(L to R) John Mayer, Bob Weir and Useless & Firm performing on the Sphere in Las Vegas in 2024. Picture: Jami Philbrick.
Bob Weir’s legacy will endure within the wealthy tapestry of music he helped weave and the numerous lives he touched along with his artwork. From sunlit out of doors festivals to intimate membership levels, his enjoying and spirit solid a bridge between musical traditions and generations of followers.
He shall be remembered not just for the songs he helped create, however for the sense of kinship and pleasure he sparked in audiences across the globe — a guiding drive in American music whose echo will lengthy outlast his closing chord.
Grateful Useless emblem. Picture: Grateful Useless.