#Grateful dead full
#Grateful dead professional

She began working full-time there, sending Jerry and his brother to live nearby with her parents, Tillie and William Clifford.

#Grateful dead full

Excelsior District įollowing his father's death, Garcia's mother Ruth took over her husband's bar, buying out his partner for full ownership. Blair Jackson, who wrote Garcia: An American Life, notes that a local newspaper article describing Jose's death did not mention Jerry being present when he died. Although Garcia claimed he saw the incident, Dennis McNally, author of the book A Long Strange Trip: The Inside Story of the Grateful Dead, argues Garcia formed the memory after hearing others repeat the story. He slipped after entering the Trinity River, part of the Six Rivers National Forest, and drowned before other fishermen could reach him.

Less than a year after this incident his father died in a fly fishing accident when the family was vacationing near Arcata in Northern California. Garcia later confessed that he often used it to his advantage in his youth, showing it off to other children in his neighborhood. In 1946, two-thirds of four-year-old Garcia's right middle finger was cut off by his brother in a wood splitting accident, while the family was vacationing in the Santa Cruz Mountains. His father's extended family-which had immigrated from Spain in 1919-would often sing during reunions.

#Grateful dead professional

His father was a retired professional musician and his mother enjoyed playing the piano. Garcia was influenced by music at an early age, taking piano lessons for much of his childhood. Shortly before Clifford's birth, their father and a partner leased a building in downtown San Francisco and turned it into a bar, partly in response to Jose being blackballed from a musicians' union for moonlighting.

Jerome John was their second child, preceded by Clifford Ramon 'Tiff', who was born in 1937. His parents named him after composer Jerome Kern. He was born in the Excelsior District of San Francisco, California, on August 1, 1942, to Jose Ramon 'Joe' Garcia and Ruth Marie 'Bobbie' (née Clifford) Garcia, who was herself born in San Francisco. His mother's ancestors were Irish and Swedish. Garcia's ancestors on his father's side were from Galicia in northwest Spain. He was staying in a California drug rehabilitation facility when he died of a heart attack on August 9, 1995 at age 53. Although his overall health improved somewhat after the incident, he continued to struggle with obesity, smoking, and long-standing heroin and cocaine addictions. In 1986, he went into a diabetic coma that nearly cost him his life. Later in life, Garcia struggled with diabetes. Originating from the days of the 'acid tests', these improvisations were a form of exploration rather than playing a song already written. The idea of picking, of eliminating possibilities by deciding, that's difficult for me'. In a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone, Garcia noted that 'my own preferences are for improvisation, for making it up as I go along. Garcia believed that improvisation took stress away from his playing and allowed him to make spur of the moment decisions that he would not have made intentionally. Garcia was renowned for his musical and technical ability, particularly his ability to play a variety of instruments and sustain long improvisations. In the 2015 version of the list he was ranked at #46. He was well known for his distinctive guitar playing, and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone 's '100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time' cover story in 2003. He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders–Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), the Jerry Garcia Band, Old & In the Way, the Garcia/ Grisman and Garcia/ Kahn acoustic duos, Legion of Mary, and New Riders of the Purple Sage (which he co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson). He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a member of the Grateful Dead.Īs one of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for the band's entire 30-year career (1965–1995). Although he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader of the band. Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 1960s.