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Max Bowden, PhD Candidate, impact and influence of the Grateful Dead, University of Essex

Bob Weir: the Grateful Dead co-founder reinvented rhythm guitar and the art of the jam

Bob Weir, co-founder of the Grateful Dead, has died aged 78. His family announced the death on Instagram on Saturday, telling fans that he “transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues”.

Weir was born in 1947 and grew up with adoptive parents, not knowing his birth parents until later in life. He found school challenging due to undiagnosed dyslexia and moved from school to school.

He met lifelong collaborator John Perry Barlow when attending a school for boys with behavioural problems, and together they wrote some of the band’s most famous lyrics.

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