Phil Lesh

Phil Lesh

Known for: Acting
Biography: 1940-03-15
Deathday: 2024-10-25 (84 years old)

Biography

Philip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940) is an American musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career.


After the band's disbanding in 1995, Lesh continued the tradition of Grateful Dead family music with side project Phil Lesh and Friends, which paid homage to the Dead's music by playing their originals, common covers, and the songs of the members of his band. Lesh operated a music venue called Terrapin Crossroads. He scaled back his touring regimen in 2014 but continues to perform with Phil Lesh & Friends at select venues. From 2009 to 2014, he performed in Furthur alongside former Grateful Dead bandmate Bob Weir.


Lesh was born in Berkeley, California, United States, and started out as a violin player. While enrolled at Berkeley High School he switched to trumpet and participated in all of the school's music-related extracurricular activities. Studying the instrument under Bob Hansen, conductor of the symphonic Golden Gate Park Band, he developed a keen interest in avant-garde classical music and free jazz. After attending San Francisco State University for a semester, Lesh was unable to secure a favorable position in the school's band or orchestra and determined that he was not ready to pursue a higher education. Upon dropping out, he successfully auditioned for the renowned Sixth Army Band (then stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco) with the assistance of Hansen, but was ultimately determined to be unfit for military service.


Shortly thereafter, he enrolled at the College of San Mateo, where he wrote charts for the community college's well-regarded big band and ascended to the first trumpet chair. (A snippet of tape of Lesh on trumpet at CSM can be heard on "Born Cross-Eyed" from the Grateful Dead's 1968 release Anthem of the Sun.) After transferring with sophomore standing to the University of California, Berkeley in 1961, he befriended future Grateful Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten before dropping out again after less than a semester. At the behest of Constanten, he studied under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio in a graduate-level course at Mills College in the spring of 1962; their classmates included Steve Reich and Stanford University cross-registrant John Chowning.


While volunteering for KPFA as a recording engineer during this period, he met bluegrass banjo player Jerry Garcia. Despite seemingly opposite musical interests, they soon formed a friendship. Following a brief period as a Post Office Department employee and keno marker in Las Vegas (initially rooming with Constanten, who soon departed to study under Berio and other members of the Darmstadt School in Europe); a second stint with the Post Office in San Francisco; and a collaboration with the likes of Reich, Jon Gibson and Constanten upon the latter's return from Europe under the auspices of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Lesh was talked into becoming the bassist for Garcia's new rock band (then known as The Warlocks) in the fall of 1964. This was a peculiar turn of events, as Lesh had never before played bass. According to Lesh, the first song he rehearsed with the band was "I Know You Rider". He joined them for their third or fourth gig (memories vary) and stayed until the end. ...


Source: Article "Phil Lesh" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Filmography

all 56

Movies 52

self 52

TV Shows 4

Producer 1

Self (archive footage)
Basketball: A Love Story

Basketball: A Love Story (2018)

TV
Self (archive footage)
Magic Trip

Magic Trip (2011)

Movie
Self - Grateful Dead
Apostrophes

Apostrophes (1975)

TV

Information

Known For
Acting

Gender
Male

Birthday
1940-03-15

Deathday
2024-10-25 (84 years old)

Birth Name
Philip Chapman Lesh

Birth Place
Berkeley, United States

Citizenships
United States

Also Known As
The Grateful Dead, Philip Chapman Lesh, Phil Lesh & Friends, Furthur, Phil Lesh and Friends

Awards
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

This article uses material from Wikipedia.

Last updated:

Bob Weir
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Bob Weir worked together with Phil Lesh in:
46 Movies
2 TV Shows
Mickey Hart
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Mickey Hart worked together with Phil Lesh in:
43 Movies
1 TV Show
Bill Kreutzmann
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Bill Kreutzmann worked together with Phil Lesh in:
42 Movies
2 TV Shows
Jerry Garcia
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Jerry Garcia worked together with Phil Lesh in:
38 Movies
1 TV Show
Brent Mydland
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Brent Mydland worked together with Phil Lesh in:
16 Movies
1 TV Show
Justin Kreutzmann
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Justin Kreutzmann worked together with Phil Lesh in:
17 Movies
Len Dell'Amico
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Len Dell'Amico worked together with Phil Lesh in:
13 Movies
Bruce Hornsby
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Bruce Hornsby worked together with Phil Lesh in:
10 Movies
Jeff Chimenti
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Jeff Chimenti worked together with Phil Lesh in:
9 Movies
Donna Godchaux
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Donna Godchaux worked together with Phil Lesh in:
9 Movies
Ron McKernan
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Ron McKernan worked together with Phil Lesh in:
6 Movies
1 TV Show
Keith Godchaux
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Keith Godchaux worked together with Phil Lesh in:
7 Movies
Trey Anastasio
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Trey Anastasio worked together with Phil Lesh in:
5 Movies
Jeffrey Norman
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Jeffrey Norman worked together with Phil Lesh in:
5 Movies
Bill Walton
Phil Lesh,
Bill Walton worked together with Phil Lesh in:
3 Movies
1 TV Show
John Scofield
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John Scofield worked together with Phil Lesh in:
3 Movies
Neal Casal
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Neal Casal worked together with Phil Lesh in:
3 Movies
Jack Casady
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Jack Casady worked together with Phil Lesh in:
3 Movies
Dan Healy
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Dan Healy worked together with Phil Lesh in:
3 Movies
Peter Shapiro
Phil Lesh,
Peter Shapiro worked together with Phil Lesh in:
3 Movies
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