Jerry Garcia

Background

Garcia was born to Jose Ramon Garcia and Ruth Marie in San Francisco, California. He was a prolific and well-known guitarist in the second half of the 20th Century. Garcia has been influenced by music ever since he was a small child, and he spent a lot of that time studying the piano. While a student at Monroe Elementary School, his artistic talent became apparent. As he got older, he developed an interest in rock and roll and rhythm and blues, which was influenced by Chuck Berry, his all-time favorite guitarist.

Garcia was a member of the Chords, a band at his high school. When he was about 19 years old, Garcia met and made friends with several other aspiring artists and he co-founded the rock band ‘The Grateful Dead’ with them in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. The band’s first two albums, “The Grateful Dead” (1967) and “Anthem of the Sun” (1968), were only moderately successful, however, the third album, “Aoxomoxoa” (1969), solidified their status as a famous rock band. Garcia began pursuing side projects in addition to his work with The Grateful Dead, and his solo albums “Garcia” (1972), “Compliments” (1974), and “Reflections” (1976) were published. In the mid-1970s, he formed another band, The ‘Jerry Garcia Band’. This band also performed rock music with blues, folk, country, and jazz influences.

Garcia had a very rough time in the 1980s since his health had deteriorated significantly due to drug abuse. He had diabetes, which was made worse by his substance misuse. This harmed his musical career, and he was not very active during this decade. In the 1990s, he collaborated on the albums “Garcia/Grisman” (1991) and “Not for Kids Only” (1993) with David Grisman, a bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and songwriter. He had a heart attack on August 9, 1995, and passed away at the age of 53.