Bob Weir Biography

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Robert Hall Weir (born October 16, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead.

Weir was born in San Francisco, California and raised by his adoptive parents in the suburb of Atherton. He began playing guitar at age thirteen after less successful experimentation with the piano and the trumpet. He had trouble in school because of undiagnosed dyslexia and he was expelled from nearly every school he attended.McNally, Dennis. A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead. New York: Broadway Books, 2002. ISBN 0-7679-1186-5 One of these was the Fountain Valley School in Colorado, where he befriended John Perry Barlow, who, along with Robert Hunter, would in time become the two main lyricists for the Grateful Dead.

On New Year's Eve, 1963, 16-year-old Weir and another underage friend were wandering the back alleys of Palo Alto, looking for a club that would admit them, when they heard banjo music. They followed the music to its source, Dana Morgan's Music Store. Here, a young Jerry Garcia, oblivious to the date, was waiting on his students to arrive. Weir and Garcia spent the night playing music together and then decided to form a band. Originally called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, the band was later renamed The Warlocks and eventually the Grateful Dead.

Weir played rhythm guitar and sang a portion of the lead vocals throughout the Dead's 30-year career. In the late 1970s, he began to experiment with slide guitar techniques, and to this day plays classic blues slide using his own rhythmic sensibility. His unique guitar style is strongly influenced by the hard bop pianist McCoy Tyner and he has cited artists as diverse as John Coltrane, the Rev. Gary Davis, and Igor Stravinsky as influences.Thanks, Dennis!

Weir's first solo album, Ace, was released in 1972. Although he always continued to play with the Grateful Dead, in 1975, he played in the Bay Area band Kingfish with friends Matt Kelly and Dave Torbert. Later on he formed another side band, Bobby & The Midnites.

Shortly before Garcia's death in 1995, Weir formed another band, Ratdog Revue, later shortened to Ratdog. As of November 11, 2006, Weir has performed approximately 700 shows with Ratdog.
Known for his raspy, deep tone, in Ratdog Weir sings covers by Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, and Willie Dixon while also performing many of his own songs.

Weir has also participated in the various reformations of the Grateful Dead's members, including 1998 and 2000 stints as The Other Ones and in 2002 and 2004 as The Dead.

On July 15, 1999 Weir married Natascha Muenter. They have two daughters, Shala Monet Weir and Chloe Kaelia Weir.

Discography

• Ace (1972)
  
• Kingfish (1976)
  
• Heaven Help The Fool (1978)
  
• Bobby & The Midnites (1981)
  
• Where the Beat Meets the Street (1984)
  
• Evening Moods (2000) - Ratdog
  
• Live at Roseland (2001) - Ratdog
  

Notes

de:Bob Weir

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