Bob Weir, the guitarist who co-founded the California psychedelic rock group, Grateful Dead, has died at the age of 78.
Weir passed away after a battle with cancer and lung issues, according to a post shared on his Instagram page.
“There is no final curtain here, not really. Only the sense of someone setting off again,” the post says, adding that Weir hoped his legacy and extensive catalogue of music would continue to live on.
The post added that he “transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones”.
“He often spoke of a three-hundred-year legacy, determined to ensure the songbook would endure long after him,” the post continues. “May that dream live on through future generations of Dead Heads.”
Weir’s career spanned more than six decades, with his major breakthrough coming in 1965 when he co-founded the Grateful Dead. Within a few years, the band had become a defining force in San Francisco’s counterculture scene.
Their sound helped shape rock music, blending psychedelia and 1960s drug culture with folk and Americana influences, and they are widely regarded as pioneers of the jam band movement.
The Grateful Dead were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammys in 2007.
The band officially ended in 1995 following the death of fellow co-founder Jerry Garcia, but Weir remained active in several spin-off projects, including Dead & Company, which held a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere in 2024 and 2025.According to the Instagram post, Weir was diagnosed with cancer in July and continued performing while undergoing treatment.
“Those performances, emotional, soulful, and full of light, were not farewells, but gifts,” the post says. “Another act of resilience. An artist choosing, even then, to keep going by his own design.”
The post added that Weir beat cancer before his death, although it remains unclear what type of cancer he was diagnosed with.
His family, including his wife Natascha and children Shala and Chloe, asked for privacy while expressing appreciation for the “outpouring of love, support, and remembrance”.
Tributes began pouring in late Saturday from fellow musicians. In New York City, the Empire State Building honored Weir by lighting up in tie-dye colors in his memory.
Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash shared a photo of Weir performing on stage, writing “RIP” alongside a broken-heart emoji.
Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder also paid tribute, recalling his first time seeing Weir perform.
“I first saw Bob at Woodstock with the Grateful Dead and was blown away by that whole band, and the musicianship,” Felder wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of himself with Weir.
“I feel so blessed to have been able to have him sing on ‘Rock You’ from American Rock and Roll. Until we meet again, amigo.”Weir’s former publicist, Dennis McNally, also spoke about the late musician, describing both his character and devotion to music.
“He had a very off-kilter, unusual sense of humour that was dry and funny,” McNally said. “The road was his life, and music was his life.”
He added that playing and serving music was what “he was put on Earth for and he did it to the end”.
(BBC)