Saturday, January 10, 2026
On Saturday, American musician and songwriter Bob Weir died surrounded by loved ones. The former guitarist and vocalist of 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.
Image: minds-eye. (Reuse terms.)
Weir played bass 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 Dead concerts. He also had a long solo career, making various groups with fellow 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 [[w|Colorado}}, where he met future Grateful Dead member John Perry Barlow. Weir began 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 and explored a solo career and variety of other groups outside of the Dead starting in the 1970s, including Kingfish, Bobby and the Midnites, RatDog, Furthur, The Other Ones, The Dead, and Dead & Company. All groups featured fellow 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 Dead anthem “Truckin’“, a song noted by the Library of Congress as a national treasure in 1997.
Outside of musical performance, Weir also Tamalpais Research Institute, a virtual performance platform and was active in left-wing politics. He is survived by wife Natascha and daughters Chloe and Monet, as well as other family.
- Chris Morris. Bob Weir, Grateful Dead Singer, Guitarist and Co-Founder, Dies at 78 — Variety, January 10, 2026
- Ben Sisario, Mark Walker and Rylee Kirk. Bob Weir, Guitarist and Founding Member of the Grateful Dead, Dies at 78 — The New York Times, January 10, 2026
- Richard Gehr. Bob Weir, Grateful Dead Co-Founder, Dead at 78 — Rolling Stone, January 10, 2026
- Lauren Boisvert. How a Run-in With Police in New Orleans Inspired The Grateful Dead’s Hit “Truckin’” — American Songwriter, June 28, 2025
- Casey Monroe. Sugar Magnolia By Grateful Dead Lyrics & Details — Gigwise, July 9, 2025
- Laruen Anderson. Who Are Bob Weir’s Kids? Inside the Grateful Dead Legend’s Family — Parade, January 10, 2026
