Grateful Dead Co-Founder Bob Weir Passes Away At 78

The music world mourns the loss of Bob Weir, co-founder and rhythm guitarist of the Grateful Dead, who passed away on January 10, 2026 at age 78. His family announced that he died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously battling cancer and succumbing to underlying lung issues. His daughter Chloe Weir wrote, “Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music.” For over 60 years, Weir’s unique guitar style, heartfelt songwriting, and enduring spirit helped build one of the most beloved musical communities in history. As we celebrate his remarkable life and legacy, here are 78 things you might not have known about this extraordinary musician, storyteller, and cultural icon.

78 Things You Might Not Have Known About Bob Weir:

1. Bob Weir was born Robert Hall Parber on October 16, 1947 in San Francisco.
2. He was given up for adoption by his birth parents and raised by Frederic Utter Weir and Eleanor Cramer Weir in Atherton, California.
3. Weir was kicked out of both preschool and the Cub Scouts as a child.
4. He struggled in school due to undiagnosed dyslexia throughout his childhood.
5. Weir was expelled from nearly every school he attended, including Menlo School in Atherton.
6. He attended Fountain Valley School in Colorado, a school for boys with behavioral problems.
7. It was at Fountain Valley School where he met John Perry Barlow, who would become his most frequent lyricist.
8. Weir began playing guitar at age thirteen after unsuccessful experiments with piano and trumpet.
9. On New Year’s Eve 1963, an underaged 16-year-old Weir was wandering the back alleys of Palo Alto with a friend looking for a club that would admit them.
10. They heard banjo music coming from Dana Morgan’s Music Store and followed it inside.
11. There they found 21-year-old Jerry Garcia, who was oblivious to the date and waiting for students to arrive.
12. Weir and Garcia spent the entire night playing music together and decided to form a band.
13. The band was originally called Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions.
14. They later renamed themselves The Warlocks before finally becoming the Grateful Dead.
15. Weir said about The Beatles’ influence, “What we saw them doing was impossibly attractive. I couldn’t think of anything else more worth doing.”
16. At 16, Weir was the youngest member of the original Grateful Dead lineup.
17. He was often referred to as “the kid” in the early days.
18. Weir was still in high school when he joined the band.
19. Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia had to promise Weir’s mother they would make sure he got to school every day and home safely after gigs.
20. Weir eventually moved into the communal Dead house at 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco.
21. He shared a room at 710 Ashbury with Neal Cassady, the trickster hero of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road.”
22. In the fall of 1968, Weir and Ron Pigpen McKernan were temporarily kicked out of the band for not pulling their weight musically.
23. The incident led to a period of significant growth in Weir’s guitar playing.
24. Phil Lesh described Weir’s playing as “quirky, whimsical and goofy.”
25. Lesh noted Weir’s ability to play chord voicings on guitar with only four fingers that one would normally hear from a keyboard with up to ten fingers.
26. Weir’s unique guitar style was strongly influenced by hard bop pianist McCoy Tyner.
27. He cited artists as diverse as John Coltrane, the Rev. Gary Davis, and Igor Stravinsky as influences.
28. In the late 1970s, Weir began experimenting with slide guitar techniques.
29. He derived much of what he did on guitar from listening to piano players.
30. Weir often played little fills, riffs and figures instead of straight chords as the band’s rhythm guitarist.
31. His musical tastes ranged from Chuck Berry to cowboy songs to R&B and reggae.
32. Weir’s first solo album ‘Ace’ was released in 1972.
33. The Grateful Dead performed as the band on ‘Ace,’ though they were credited individually.
34. Keith Godchaux and his wife Donna were included in the ‘Ace’ lineup, both of whom would join the band by the album’s release.
35. “Playing in the Band” from ‘Ace’ became one of his most well-known songs.
36. In 1975 and 1976, Weir played in the Bay Area band Kingfish with friends Matt Kelly and Dave Torbert.
37. In 1978 he fronted the Bob Weir Band with Brent Mydland, who joined the Grateful Dead the following year.
38. In 1980 he formed the side band Bobby and the Midnites.
39. Weir wrote the song “The Other One” about his introduction to both LSD and Neal Cassady.
40. He wrote such key Grateful Dead songs as “Sugar Magnolia,” “Playing in the Band,” and “Jack Straw.”
41. Many of his best-known songs were co-written with his old school friend John Perry Barlow.
42. Weir sang the verses on the band’s trademark boogie anthem “Truckin’.”
43. Shortly before Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995, Weir formed RatDog Revue, later shortened to RatDog.
44. In RatDog, Weir performed covers of The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, and Willie Dixon.
45. In 2008 he performed in two Deadheads for Obama concerts.
46. In 2009, Weir and Phil Lesh formed a new band called Furthur, named in honor of Ken Kesey’s famous psychedelically painted bus.
47. In 2011, Weir founded the Tamalpais Research Institute, also known as TRI Studios, a high-tech recording studio and virtual music venue.
48. In 2012, Weir toured with Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes and Jackie Greene as the Weir, Robinson & Greene Acoustic Trio.
49. On April 25, 2013, Weir collapsed onstage during a Furthur performance at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York.
50. In 2014, the documentary “The Other One: The Long Strange Trip of Bob Weir” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
51. In early July 2015, Weir joined the other original living Grateful Dead members for three shows at Soldier Field in Chicago.
52. The “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead” concerts marked 20 years nearly to the day since the band’s final concert with Jerry Garcia at the same venue.
53. In late 2015, Weir teamed up with Mickey Hart, Billy Kreutzmann, John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti to form Dead & Company.
54. Dead & Company played their final tour show on July 16, 2023 at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
55. Dead & Company announced a concert residency at Sphere in Las Vegas in January 2024.
56. The Sphere residency was extended from eighteen shows to thirty shows, ending in August 2024.
57. In May 2016, Weir was a guest speaker and performer for the second annual Einstein Gala in Toronto.
58. In June 2016, at the Bonnaroo Arts And Music Festival, Weir received the first ever Les Paul Spirit Award from the Les Paul Foundation.
59. Weir received the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2016 Americana Honors & Awards in Nashville.
60. In September 2016, Weir released a new album of cowboy songs titled ‘Blue Mountain.’
61. The ‘Blue Mountain’ album was inspired by his time working as a ranch hand in Wyoming when he was fifteen years old.
62. In 2018, Weir formed a band called Wolf Bros with Don Was on upright bass and Jay Lane on drums.
63. Wolf Bros later expanded to include Jeff Chimenti on keyboards and Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar.
64. They also added a horn and string section called the Wolfpack.
65. In 2022, Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros launched a series of performances with symphony orchestras.
66. They performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Stanford Symphony Orchestra, and others.
67. A June 21, 2025 show was scheduled at the Royal Albert Hall in London with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
68. In 1967, Weir was arrested with Ron Pigpen McKernan for possession of marijuana at the band’s communal home.
69. Weir remained single throughout his years with the Grateful Dead.
70. He lived for several years with Frankie Hart, a former go-go dancer at the Peppermint Lounge in New York.
71. Frankie Hart was allegedly the inspiration for the song “Sugar Magnolia.”
72. On July 15, 1999, Weir married Natascha Münter in Mill Valley, California.
73. Together they had two daughters, Shala Monet Weir and Chloe Kaelia Weir.
74. Weir was a long-term vegetarian and advocate for animal rights.
75. He was influential in the founding of Farm Sanctuary.
76. In February 2004, Weir won the Scripps Howard Super Sage Award for most accurately predicting the Super Bowl score.
77. Weir was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2025, which he successfully overcame before succumbing to underlying lung issues.
78. His final performances were at Golden Gate Park in August 2025, celebrating 60 years of the Grateful Dead, which his family described as “not farewells, but gifts.”