With the exception of McKernan, who died in 1973, and Hart, who took time off from 1971 to 1974, the core of the band stayed together for its entire 30-year history. Drummer Mickey Hart and non-performing lyricist Robert Hunter joined in 1967. Lesh was the last member to join the Warlocks before they changed their name to Grateful Dead, replacing Dana Morgan Jr., who had played bass for a few gigs. Members of Grateful Dead, originally known as the Warlocks, had played together in various Bay Area ensembles, including the traditional jug band Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. The band's founding members were Jerry Garcia ( lead guitar and vocals), Bob Weir (rhythm guitar and vocals), Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan ( keyboards, harmonica, and vocals), Phil Lesh ( bass guitar and vocals), and Bill Kreutzmann ( drums). Grateful Dead was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area during the rise of the counterculture of the 1960s. According to the musician and writer Lenny Kaye, the band's 'music touches on ground that most other groups don't even know exists.' For the range of their influences and the structure of their live performances, the Grateful Dead are considered 'the pioneering godfathers of the jam band world'. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music with psychedelia, the improvisation of their live performances, and its devoted fan base, known as ' Deadheads'.

Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California.

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