Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, has died

Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, has died at the age of 84. The news was spread on his social channels, accompanied by a short statement that did not specify the cause of death.
“Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, passed away peacefully this morning, surrounded by the love of his family – reads the message – Phil brought immense joy to all those around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love. We ask that you respect the privacy of the Lesh family at this time.”

Born in Berkeley in 1940, Lesh was a member of the Grateful Dead from its inception until its dissolution in 1995, following the passing of Jerry Garcia, with whom he had shared a close musical collaboration, having met him while studying under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio: this was how the psychedelic sound of the Californian band and the famous improvisations on stage were born. Classically trained – he claimed to be inspired by Bach's counterpoint theory – Lesh was not among the band's most prolific composers, but he played an important role in pieces such as “Dark Star”, “St. Stephen” and “Box Of Rain ,” a song that also featured him on lead vocals (although he used to sing harmonies).
After the end of the Grateful Dead, Lesh participated in various lineups with the other surviving members, including reunion in 2015 to celebrate the band's fiftieth anniversary, performing with Phish's Trey Anastasio on vocals and guitar.
While the other remaining founding members decided to continue under the name Dead & Company, Lesh carried on the band's legacy primarily through solo projects, such as “Phil Lesh & Friends,” collaborating with various musicians.
Lesh had fought several battles with cancer and had a liver transplant in 1998.

Bill Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, the other three surviving founding members of the Grateful Dead, remembered him in this message: “Today we lost a brother. Our hearts and love go out to Jill Lesh, Brian and Grahame .Phil Lesh was irreplaceable. With a note of the Phil Zone, you could hear and feel the world that was born. His bass flowed like a river. He went where the muse took him. He was an explorer of the inner and outer space playing the bass .He was a circumnavigator of previously unknown musical worlds. And more… Phil loved the Dead Heads and always kept them in his heart and mind. The fact is… Phil was much more than a virtuoso bassist, a composer, a family man, a cultural icon… There will be many tributes, and they will all say important things for us, who have spent a lifetime making music with Phil Lesh, music has its own way of saying So listen to the Grateful Dead and we'll all carry a little piece of Phil with us forever. Because this is all a dream we had one afternoon, a long time ago.”