Jerome John “Jerry” Garcia was a psychedelic wizard with a hypnotizing presence born in San Francisco, California on August 1, 1942. Jerry is immortalized as a rock icon — The Grateful Dead was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and in 2003, Rolling Stone ranked him at #13 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All-Time. Often seen as the frontman of The Grateful Dead, Jerry was their lead guitarist and lead singer on many original songs, though he refused to take credit as the role.

Garcia was inspired by various music, art, drugs, and literature. At age 15, he started playing guitar, but it wasn’t until Jerry narrowly survived a major car accident which changed his focus. He later cites it as a “slingshot for the rest of [his] life.” This revelation causes him to choose the guitar over his hobby of painting and drawing. His music also had a strong influence from bluegrass, as he had played banjo throughout his life and before he began to play guitar.

Despite noting few musical influences, Jerry liked Chuck Berry and Ray Charles amongst other Rhythm and Blues artists of the time.

Rather than releasing album after album — The Grateful Dead were known for their extensive touring rather than putting out multiple albums, to which Jerry responded to in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1991:

the aesthetics of making good studio albums is that you don’t hear any mistakes. when we make a record that doesn’t have any mistakes on it, it sounds fucking boring.

The psychedelic influence was further fueled once Garcia officially changed the original name of the band previously known as the The Warlocks to The Grateful Dead in December 1965 — around the time they would perform the first of many shows at house parties during Ken Kesey’s Acid Tests in San Jose, CA. Jerry was also majorly influenced by artist Wally Hendrick and especially musician/novelist Jack Kerouc. Garcia worked closely with poet/songwriter Robert Hunter throughout his career.

While in the Grateful Dead, Jerry released a few solo albums and one Jerry Garcia Band album in the 1970s, and later he released joint albums with musician David Grisman in the early 1990s. Over the years, he performed literally thousands of times with dozens of groups, but age and his years of drug abuse began to catch up with him. He checked himself into a rehab center in the summer of 1995, where he passed away of a heart attack on August 9, 1995 at the age of 53. A public memorial was held for him at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on August 13, 1995, and it was attended by more than 20,000 friends, family, and fans.

View a timeline of Jerry Garcia’s life here:

Jerry's Story

—
Jerry Garcia

Jerry and Phil Lesh meet during a party in Menlo Park. Phil later suggests recording one of Jerry's performances to broadcast on local radio station KPFA. The recordings lead to a ninety-minute special broadcast as "The Long Black Veil and Other Ballads: An Evening with Jerry Garcia."