Coordinates	50°53′″N20°37′″N
name	Rick Danko
background	solo_singer
birth name	Richard Clare Danko
birth date	December 29, 1942
birth place	Green's Corners, Ontario, Canada
death date	December 10, 1999
death place	Marbletown, New York, United States
instrument	Vocals, bass, double bass, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, accordion, trombone, piano, banjo
genre	Rock, blues, country rock, folk rock, folk
occupation	Musician, songwriter, producer
years active	1956–1999
label	Capitol, Arista, Rykodisc, Woodstock, Breeze Hill
associated acts	The Band, Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, Danko/Fjeld/Andersen
notable instruments	Fender Bass VI, Ampeg AUB-1, Gibson Ripper, Custom semi-hollow 5-string bass }}

Richard Clare "Rick" Danko (December 29, 1942 – December 10, 1999) was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.

Biography

Early years (1942–1960)

The third of four sons, Danko was born in Green's Corners, Ontario, a farming community outside of the town of Simcoe, to a musical family of Ukrainian descent.

Growing up in front of the family radio (as his future bandmates also did), he was exposed to country and R&B; music at an early age. His musical heroes included Hank Williams and, later, Sam Cooke. He also drew inspiration from the music of his oldest brother, Maurice "Junior" Danko. Danko's younger brother, Terry, also became a musician. After entering the first grade in school, he performed on a 4 string tenor banjo.

Danko formed the Rick Danko Band at the age of 12 or 13, and at 14, he left school to pursue music. At 17, already a five-year music veteran, he booked himself as the opening act for Ronnie Hawkins, an American rockabilly singer whose group, The Hawks, were considered to be one of the best in Canada.

The Hawks (1960-1964)

Hawkins invited Danko to join The Hawks as rhythm guitarist. Around this time, Hawks bassist Rebel Paine was fired by Hawkins, who, wasting no time, had Danko learn bass, given help by other members of the band. By September 1960, he was Hawkins's bassist, using the Fender VI six-string bass, then switching to a Fender Jazz Bass.

Soon joined by pianist Richard Manuel and organist/reedsman Garth Hudson, The Hawks played with Hawkins through mid-1963. An altercation that year between Danko and Hawkins led Danko, Helm, Robertson, Manuel, and Hudson to give two-weeks' notice in early 1964 and parted ways with Hawkins on reasonably amicable terms. The group had been planning to leave Hawkins and strike out together as a band without a frontman, as a team of equal members.

Pre-The Band (1964-1968)

Danko and the former Hawks initially performed as the Levon Helm Sextet, with saxophonist Jerry Penfound, later became The Canadian Squires, after Penfound left, and finally being called Levon and the Hawks. Playing a circuit that stretched in an arc from Ontario to Arkansas, they became known as "the best damn bar band in the land."

By 1965, with two singles under their belt, recorded as the Canadian Squires, they met the legendary blues harmonicist and vocalist Sonny Boy Williamson and planned a collaboration with him as soon as he returned to Chicago. Unfortunately for the group (who went on to play a four-month stand of gigs in New Jersey immediately afterward), Williamson died within days of their meeting, and the collaboration never happened.

Around that same time, Bob Dylan contacted them, and they became his backing group. The nature of Dylan's tour, however, became too much for Helm, who departed in November. Through May 1966, Dylan and the remaining foursome (together with pick-up drummers, including actor/musician Mickey Jones) traveled across America, Australia, and Europe, playing new versions of Dylan classics. After the final shows in England, Dylan retreated to his new home in Woodstock, New York, and the Hawks joined him shortly thereafter.

The Band (1968–1977)

It was Danko who had found the pink house on Parnassus Lane, just off Stoll Road, in Saugerties, New York, which became known as "Big Pink". Danko, Hudson, and Manuel moved in, with Robertson ensconcing himself nearby. The Band's musical sessions with Dylan took place in the basement of Big Pink, between June and October 1967, generating recordings that were officially released in 1975 as ''The Basement Tapes'' album. In October, The Hawks began their demo recordings for their first album, with Helm re-joining the group in that month. Their manager, Albert Grossman, secured them a recording deal with Capitol Records in late 1967.

From January to March 1968, The Band recorded their debut album, ''Music From Big Pink'', in recording studios in New York and Los Angeles. On this album, Danko sang lead vocal on three songs: "Caledonia Mission", "Long Black Veil" and "This Wheel's on Fire," which Danko had co-written with Dylan. Before The Band could promote the album by touring, Danko was severely injured in a car accident, breaking his neck and back in six places, which put him in traction for months. The Band finally made their concert debut at Bill Graham's Winterland in San Francisco April 1969.

By this time, they were already hard at work on their eponymous second album. On that record, sometimes known as "The Brown Album," Danko sang what would become two of his signature songs—and two of the group's best-loved classics: the reflective yet whimsical story-song "When You Awake" and the achingly poignant "The Unfaithful Servant." Both songs exemplified Danko's talents as a lead singer and demonstrated his naturally plaintive voice.

The Band's albums were defined by each member—Robertson's lyrics and guitar work, Helm's "bayou folk" drumming and Southern voice, Manuel's Ray Charles-like vocals and complex keyboard rhythms, and Hudson's arrangements on an assortment of instruments. But Danko's iconic tenor, his on-top-of-the-melody harmonies, and his percussive, melodic bass-playing style were an integral part of the group's sound. In an interview with Guitar Player, Danko cited bassists James Jamerson, Ron Carter, Edgar Willis, and Chuck Rainey as his musical influences. He eventually moved from the Fender Jazz Bass to an Ampeg fretless model and later a Gibson Ripper for The Last Waltz.

Later years (1977–1999)

Although The Band had performed its farewell concert ("The Last Waltz") at Winterland in November 1976, Danko had no intention of calling it quits. Clive Davis offered him a contract with Arista Records, making him the first Band member to record a solo album. Issued in 1977, his self titled début featured each of his bandmates in addition to Ronnie Wood, Eric Clapton, Doug Sahm and Danko's brother, Terry. The album was primarily recorded at The Band's California Studio, Shangri-La. The poor showing of the album, however (it barely cracked the Billboard 200), destined it for rarity status, and although he recorded a follow-up album, Danko was dropped from Arista. (The follow-up album, presumed lost for many years, was finally released as a part of 2005's ''Cryin' Heart Blues''.)

In early 1979 Danko briefly opened shows for Boz Scaggs in selected venues. Also in 1979, Danko and Paul Butterfield toured together as the Danko/Butterfield Band. Among the songs they covered was Sail On, Sailor, originally recorded by The Beach Boys.

From 1983 to 1999, Danko alternated between a reformed version of The Band featuring Helm, Hudson, and guitarist Jim Weider (and, from 1983 to 1986, Manuel); a busy solo career; and a number of collaborations, including award-winning work with singer/songwriter Eric Andersen and Norway's Jonas Fjeld. The trio was known as Danko/Fjeld/Andersen.

In 1984, Rick Danko joined members of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and others in the huge touring company that made up "The Byrds Twenty-Year Celebration." Several members of the band performed solo songs to start the show including Danko, who performed a rousing version of "Mystery Train".

In 1989, Danko toured with Levon Helm and Garth Hudson as part of Ringo Starr's first All-Star Band.

He sang on the Pink Floyd songs "Comfortably Numb" and "Mother", the former with Van Morrison, Roger Waters, and Levon Helm, and the latter with Helm and Sinéad O'Connor on July 21, 1990, in Roger Waters' stage production of ''The Wall Concert in Berlin''.

Danko recorded demos and made a number of appearances on albums by other artists throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and in 1997, he released ''Rick Danko in Concert''. Two years later, a third solo album (''Live on Breeze Hill'') was released, and Danko was busy at work on a fourth (''Times Like These'') at the time of his death.

In the meantime, The Band, without Robertson, recorded three more albums of their own, and Danko teamed with Fjeld and Andersen for two trio albums, ''Danko/Fjeld/Andersen'' in 1991 and ''Ridin' on the Blinds'' in 1994.

By the late 1990s, his lifestyle was taking its toll however, particularly his drinking and indulging in a mix of harder drugs and painkillers, the result of the serious car accident in 1968. He continued to be on prescribed opiates, including morphine, throughout the remainder of his life, Danko's health problems were later compounded by rapid weight gain in the mid 1990s. By 1997, he was chronically obese. Danko was found guilty of attempting to smuggle heroin into Japan. He told the presiding judge that he had begun using the drug (together with prescription morphine) to fight life-long pain resulting from his 1968 auto accident.

Death

On December 10, 1999, just days after the end of a brief tour of the Midwest that included two shows in the Chicago area and a final gig at The Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Danko died in his sleep at his home in Marbletown, New York, near Woodstock. Following an autopsy, Danko's cause of death was determined to be drug-related heart failure.

He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth; stepson Justin (whom he had legally adopted); and daughter, Lisa, by his first marriage. His son Eli, also from his first marriage, died in 1989 at the age of 18 from asphyxiation.

Discography

1977: ''Rick Danko''

1991: ''Danko/Fjeld/Andersen'' (with Jonas Fjeld and Eric Andersen)

1994: ''Ridin' on the Blinds'' (with Jonas Fjeld and Eric Andersen)

1997: ''Rick Danko in Concert''

1999: ''Live on Breeze Hill''

2000: ''Times Like These''

2002: ''One More Shot'' (with Jonas Fjeld and Eric Andersen)

2005: ''Cryin' Heart Blues''

2009: ''At Dylan's Cafe'' (A live solo concert recorded in Washington, DC on December 8, 1987)

2009: ''Live At O'Tooles Tavern'' (with Richard Manuel, recorded live in Scranton, PA December 12, 1985)

See also

List of bass guitarists

Fretless guitar, which includes a section on fretless bass

Citations

References

External links

"The Last Waltz," a short story referencing Rick Danko, by Elizabeth Collison

Rick Danko

Rick Danko's Authorized Biography, written by his longtime publicist, Carol Caffin

Memorial Service card with photo of Rick Danko

Category:1942 births Category:1999 deaths Category:Canadian male singers Category:Canadian rock singers Category:Canadian bass guitarists Category:Canadian double-bassists Category:Canadian multi-instrumentalists Category:The Band members Category:Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Category:People from Norfolk County, Ontario Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Canadian country rock musicians Category:Canadian folk rock musicians

cs:Rick Danko de:Rick Danko es:Rick Danko fr:Rick Danko it:Rick Danko nl:Rick Danko ja:リック・ダンコ no:Rick Danko nn:Rick Danko pl:Rick Danko pt:Rick Danko sv:Rick Danko

Coordinates	50°53′″N20°37′″N
Name	Janis Joplin
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Janis Lyn Joplin
Born	January 19, 1943 Port Arthur, Texas, United States
Died	October 04, 1970 Los Angeles, California, United States
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, autoharp, harmonica, percussion
Genre	Blues-rock, psychedelic rock, blues, hard rock, soul, country, folk
Occupation	Singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, painter, dancer
Years active	1962–1970
Label	Columbia
Associated acts	Big Brother & the Holding CompanyKozmic Blues BandFull Tilt Boogie Band The Grateful Dead
Website	officialjanis.com }}

Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band. At the height of her career she was known as ''The Queen of Rock and Roll'' as well as ''The Queen of Psychedelic Soul''. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked Joplin number 46 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004, and number 28 on its 2008 list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Early life: 1943–1965

Janis Joplin was born in Port Arthur, Texas, on January 19, 1943, to Dorothy (née East) Joplin (1913–1998), a registrar at a business college, and her husband, Seth Joplin (1910–1987), an engineer at Texaco. She had two younger siblings, Michael and Laura. The family attended the Church of Christ. The Joplins felt that Janis always needed more attention than their other children, with her mother stating, "She was unhappy and unsatisfied without [receiving a lot of attention]. The normal rapport wasn't adequate."

As a teenager, she befriended a group of outcasts, one of whom had albums by African-American blues artists Bessie Smith and Leadbelly, whom Joplin later credited with influencing her decision to become a singer. She began singing in the local choir and expanded her listening to blues singers such as Odetta and Big Mama Thornton.

Primarily a painter while still in school, she first began singing blues and folk music with friends. While at Thomas Jefferson High School, she stated that she was mostly shunned. Joplin was quoted as saying, "I was a misfit. I read, I painted, I didn't hate niggers." As a teen, she became overweight and her skin broke out so badly she was left with deep scars which required dermabrasion. Other kids at high school would routinely taunt her and call her names like "pig," "freak" or "creep." Among her classmates were G. W. Bailey and Jimmy Johnson.

Joplin graduated from high school in 1960 and attended Lamar State College of Technology in Beaumont, Texas, during the summer and later the University of Texas at Austin, though she did not complete her studies. The campus newspaper ''The Daily Texan'' ran a profile of her in the issue dated July 27, 1962 headlined "She Dares To Be Different." The article began, "She goes barefooted when she feels like it, wears Levi's to class because they're more comfortable, and carries her Autoharp with her everywhere she goes so that in case she gets the urge to break into song it will be handy. Her name is Janis Joplin."

Cultivating a rebellious manner, Joplin styled herself in part after her female blues heroines and, in part, after the Beat poets. Her first song recorded on tape, at the home of a fellow student in December 1962, was "What Good Can Drinkin' Do". She left Texas for San Francisco ("just to get away from Texas," she said, "because my head was in a much different place") in January 1963, living in North Beach and later Haight-Ashbury. In 1964, Joplin and future Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen recorded a number of blues standards, further accompanied by Margareta Kaukonen on typewriter (as percussion instrument). This session included seven tracks: "Typewriter Talk," "Trouble In Mind," "Kansas City Blues," "Hesitation Blues", "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out", "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" and "Long Black Train Blues," and was later released as the bootleg album ''The Typewriter Tape.''

Around this time her drug use increased, and she acquired a reputation as a "speed freak" and occasional heroin user. She also used other psychoactive drugs and was a heavy drinker throughout her career; her favorite beverage was Southern Comfort.

In the spring of 1965, Joplin's friends, noticing the physical effects of her amphetamine habit (she was described as "skeletal" and "emaciated"), persuaded her to return to Port Arthur, Texas. In May 1965, Joplin's friends threw her a bus-fare party so she could return home. Back in Port Arthur, she changed her lifestyle. She avoided drugs and alcohol, began wearing relatively modest dresses, adopted a beehive hairdo, and enrolled as a sociology major at Lamar University in nearby Beaumont, Texas. During her year at Lamar University, she commuted to Austin to perform solo, accompanying herself on guitar. One of her performances was reviewed in the ''Austin American-Statesman''. Joplin became engaged to a man who visited her, wearing a blue serge suit, to ask her father for her hand in marriage, but the man terminated plans for the marriage soon afterwards.

Big Brother and the Holding Company: 1966–1968

In 1966, Joplin's bluesy vocal style attracted the attention of the psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company, a band that had gained some renown among the nascent hippie community in Haight-Ashbury. She was recruited to join the group by Chet Helms, a promoter who had known her in Texas and who at the time was managing Big Brother. Helms brought her back to San Francisco and Joplin joined Big Brother on June 4, 1966. Her first public performance with them was at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. In June she was photographed at an outdoor concert that celebrated the summer solstice. The image, which was later published in two books by David Dalton, shows her before she relapsed into drugs. Due to persistent persuading by keyboardist and close friend Stephen Ryder, Joplin avoided drug use for several weeks, enjoining bandmate Dave Getz to promise that using needles would not be allowed in their rehearsal space or in her apartment or in the homes of her bandmates whom she visited. When a visitor injected drugs in front of Joplin and Getz, Joplin angrily reminded Getz that he had broken his promise. A San Francisco concert from that summer was recorded and released in the 1984 album ''Cheaper Thrills''. In July all five bandmates and guitarist James Gurley's wife Nancy moved to a house in Lagunitas, California where they lived communally. They often partied with the Grateful Dead, who lived less than two miles away.

On August 23, 1966, during a four week engagement in Chicago, the group signed a deal with independent label Mainstream Records. Joplin relapsed into drinking when she and her bandmates (except for Peter Albin) joined some "alcoholic hipsters," as Joplin biographer Ellis Amburn described them, in Chicago. The band recorded tracks in a Chicago recording studio, but the label owner Bob Shad refused to pay their airfare back to San Francisco. Shortly after four of the five musicians drove from Chicago to Northern California with very little money (Albin traveled by plane), they returned to Lagunitas. It was there that Joplin relapsed into intravenous drug use with the encouragement of James' wife Nancy Gurley. Three years later Joplin, by then using a different band, was informed of Nancy's death from an overdose.

One of Joplin's earliest major performances in 1967 was the Mantra-Rock Dance, a musical event held on January 29 at the Avalon Ballroom by the San Francisco Hare Krishna temple. Janis Joplin and Big Brother performed there along with the Hare Krishna founder Bhaktivedanta Swami, Allen Ginsberg, Moby Grape, and Grateful Dead, donating proceeds to the Krishna temple.

In early 1967, Joplin met Country Joe McDonald of the group Country Joe and the Fish. The pair lived together as a couple for a few months. Joplin and Big Brother began playing clubs in San Francisco, at the Fillmore West, Winterland and the Avalon Ballroom. They also played at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, as well as in Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia, the Psychedelic Supermarket in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Golden Bear Club in Huntington Beach, California.

The band's debut album was released by Columbia Records in August 1967, shortly after the group's breakthrough appearance in June at the Monterey Pop Festival. Two songs from Big Brother's set at Monterey were filmed. ''Combination of the Two'' and a version of Big Mama Thornton's ''Ball and Chain'' appear in the DVD box set of D.A. Pennebaker's documentary ''Monterey Pop'' released by The Criterion Collection. The film captured Cass Elliot, singer in The Mamas and the Papas, seated in the audience silently mouthing "Wow! That's really heavy!" during Joplin's performance of ''Ball and Chain''. Only ''Ball and Chain'' was included in the film that was released to theaters nationwide in 1969 and shown on television in the 1970s. Those who did not attend Monterey Pop saw the band's performance of ''Combination of the Two'' for the first time in 2002 when The Criterion Collection released the box set.

After switching managers from Chet Helms to Julius Karpen in 1966, the group signed with top artist manager Albert Grossman, whom they met for the first time at Monterey Pop. For the remainder of 1967, Big Brother performed mainly in California. On February 16, 1968, the group began its first East Coast tour in Philadelphia, and the following day gave their first performance in New York City at the Anderson Theater. On April 7, 1968, the last day of their East Coast tour, Joplin and Big Brother performed with Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Joni Mitchell, Richie Havens, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop at the "Wake for Martin Luther King, Jr." concert in New York.

''Live at Winterland '68'', recorded at the Winterland Ballroom on April 12 and 13, 1968, features Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company at the height of their mutual career working through a selection of tracks from their albums. A recording became available to the public for the first time in 1998 when Sony Music Entertainment released the compact disc.

During the spring of 1968, Joplin and Big Brother made their nationwide television debut on ''The Dick Cavett Show'', an ABC daytime variety show hosted by Dick Cavett. Shortly thereafter, network employees wiped the videotape. In later years she made three appearances on the primetime Cavett program, and all were preserved. Throughout 1968, the band was billed as "Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company," although the media coverage given to Joplin incurred resentment among the other members of the band. The other members of Big Brother thought that Joplin was on a "star trip," while others were telling Joplin that Big Brother was a terrible band and that she ought to dump them.

''TIME'' magazine called Joplin "probably the most powerful singer to emerge from the white rock movement," and Richard Goldstein, wrote for the May 1968 issue of ''Vogue'' magazine that Joplin was "the most staggering leading woman in rock... she slinks like tar, scowls like war... clutching the knees of a final stanza, begging it not to leave... Janis Joplin can sing the chic off any listener."

''Cheap Thrills''

For her first major studio recording, Janis played a major role in the arrangement and production of the recordings that would become Big Brother And The Holding Company's second album, ''Cheap Thrills''. During the recording, Joplin was the said to be the first person to enter the studio and the last person to leave. The album featured a cover design by counterculture cartoonist Robert Crumb. Although ''Cheap Thrills'' sounded as if it consisted of concert recordings, only ''Ball and Chain'' was actually recorded in front of a paying audience; the rest of the tracks were studio recordings. The album had a raw quality, including the sound of a cocktail glass breaking and the broken shards being swept away during the song ''Turtle Blues''. Together with the premiere of the documentary film ''Monterey Pop'' at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on December 26, 1968, the album launched Joplin's successful, albeit short, musical career.

''Cheap Thrills'' reached #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart eight weeks after its release, remaining for eight (nonconsecutive) weeks. The album was certified gold at release and sold over a million copies in the first month of its release. The lead single from the album, "Piece of My Heart" reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1968.

The band made another East Coast tour during July–August 1968, performing at the Columbia Records convention in Puerto Rico and the Newport Folk Festival. After returning to San Francisco for two hometown shows at the Palace of Fine Arts Festival on August 31 and September 1, Joplin announced that she would be leaving Big Brother. The group continued touring through the fall and Joplin gave her last official performance with Big Brother at a Family Dog benefit on December 1, 1968.

Solo career: 1969–1970

Kozmic Blues Band

After splitting from Big Brother And The Holding Company, Joplin formed a new backup group, the Kozmic Blues Band. The band was influenced by the Stax-Volt Rhythm and Blues bands of the 1960s, as exemplified by Otis Redding and the Bar-Kays. The Stax-Volt R&B; sound was typified by the use of horns and had a more bluesy, funky, soul, pop-oriented sound than most of the hard-rock psychedelic bands of the period.

By early 1969, Joplin was allegedly shooting at least $200 worth of heroin per day, although efforts were made to keep her clean during the recording of ''I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!''. Gabriel Mekler, who produced the ''Kozmic Blues'', told publicist-turned-biographer Myra Friedman after Joplin's death that the singer had lived in his house during the June 1969 recording sessions at his insistence so he could keep her away from drugs and her drug-using friends.

The Kozmic Blues Band performed on many television shows with Joplin. On one episode of ''The Dick Cavett Show'' they performed ''Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)'' as well as ''To Love Somebody''. As Cavett interviewed Joplin, she admitted that she had a terrible time touring in Europe, claiming that audiences there are very uptight and don't get down. She also revealed that she was a big fan of the then unknown Tina Turner, saying that she was an incredible singer, dancer and show woman.

''I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!''

The Kozmic Blues album, released in September 1969, was certified gold later that year but did not match the success of ''Cheap Thrills''. Reviews of the new group were mixed. Some music critics, including Ralph J. Gleason of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', were negative. Gleason wrote that the new band was a "drag" and that Joplin should "scrap" her new band and "go right back to being a member of Big Brother...(if they'll have her)." Other reviewers, such as reporter Carl Bernstein of the ''Washington Post'' generally ignored the band's flaws and devoted entire articles to celebrating the singer's magic. ''I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!'' reached #6 on the Billboard 200 weeks after it's release.

Joplin and the Kozmic Blues Band toured North America and Europe throughout 1969, appearing at Woodstock in the early morning hours of Sunday, August 17. Her friend Peggy Caserta claimed in a 1973 book that she encouraged Joplin to perform at the festival. Joplin informed her band that they would be performing at the concert as if it were just another gig. When she and the band flew by helicopter from a nearby motel to the festival site and Joplin saw the enormous crowd she instantly became incredibly nervous and giddy. The documentary film of the festival that was released to theaters the following year includes, on the left side of a split screen (filmmaking), 37 seconds of footage of Joplin and Caserta walking toward her dressing room tent. By most accounts, Woodstock was not a happy affair for Joplin. Faced with a ten hour wait after arriving at the backstage area, she shot heroin with Caserta and was drinking alcohol, so by the time she hit the stage, she was "three sheets to the wind." On stage her voice became slightly hoarse and wheezy and she found it hard to dance. She pulled through, however, and the audience was so pleased they cheered her on for an encore, causing her to perform ''Ball and Chain'' twice. Joplin was unhappy with her performance and blamed Caserta. Her singing was not included in the documentary film or the hit soundtrack, although the 25th anniversary director's cut of ''Woodstock'' includes her performance of ''Work Me, Lord''.

In addition to Woodstock, Joplin also had problems four months later at Madison Square Garden where, as she told rock journalist David Dalton, the audience watched and listened to "every note [she sang] with 'Is she gonna make it?' in their eyes." In her interview with Dalton she added that she felt most comfortable performing at small, cheap venues in San Francisco that were associated with the counterculture. At the time of this June 1970 interview she already had performed in the Bay Area for what turned out to be the last time.

Sam Andrew, the lead guitarist who had left Big Brother with Joplin in December 1968 to form her back-up band, quit in late summer 1969 and returned to Big Brother without her. At the end of the year, the Kozmic Blues Band broke up. Their final gig with Joplin was at Madison Square Garden in New York City on the night of December 19–20, 1969.

Full Tilt Boogie Band

In February 1970, Joplin traveled to Brazil, where she stopped her drug and alcohol use. She was accompanied on vacation there by her friend Linda Gravenites, who had designed the singer's stage costumes from 1967 to 1969. Joplin was romanced by a fellow American tourist named David (George) Niehaus, who was traveling around the world. A Joplin biography written by her sister Laura said, "David was an upper-middle-class Cincinnati kid who had studied communications at Notre Dame. ... [and] had joined the Peace Corps after college and worked in a small village in Turkey. ... He tried law school, but when he met Janis he was taking time off." Niehaus and Joplin were photographed by the press at Rio Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Gravenites also took color photographs of the two during their Brazilian vacation. According to Joplin biographer Ellis Amburn, in Gravenites' snapshots they "look like a carefree, happy, healthy young couple having a tremendously good time." ''Rolling Stone'' magazine interviewed Joplin during an international phone call, quoting her, "I'm going into the jungle with a big bear of a beatnik named David Niehaus. I finally remembered I don't have to be on stage twelve months a year. I've decided to go and dig some other jungles for a couple of weeks." Amburn added in 1992, "Janis was trying to kick heroin in Brazil, and one of the nicest things about George was that he wasn't into drugs."

Joplin began using heroin again when she returned to the United States. Her relationship with Niehaus soon ended because of his witnessing her shooting drugs at her new home in Larkspur, California, her relationship with Peggy Caserta, who also was an intravenous addict, and her refusal to take some time off work and travel the world with him. Around this time she formed her new band, the Full Tilt Boogie Band. The band was composed mostly of young Canadian musicians and featured an organ, but no horn section. Joplin took a more active role in putting together the Full Tilt Boogie Band than she did with her prior group. She was quoted as saying, "It's ''my'' band. Finally it's ''my'' band!"

The Full Tilt Boogie Band began touring in May 1970. Joplin remained quite happy with her new group, which received mostly positive feedback from both her fans and the critics. Prior to beginning a summer tour with Full Tilt Boogie, she performed in a reunion with Big Brother at the Fillmore West in San Francisco on April 4, 1970. Recordings from this concert were included in an in-concert album released posthumously in 1972. She again appeared with Big Brother on April 12 at Winterland where she and Big Brother were reported to be in excellent form. By the time she began touring with Full Tilt Boogie, Joplin told people she was drug-free, but her drinking increased.

From June 28 to July 4, 1970, Joplin and Full Tilt joined the all-star ''Festival Express'' tour through Canada, performing alongside the Grateful Dead, Delaney and Bonnie, Rick Danko and The Band, Eric Andersen and Ian and Sylvia. They played concerts in Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. Footage of her performance of the song ''Tell Mama'' in Calgary became an MTV video in the early 1980s and was included on the 1982 ''Farewell Song'' album. The audio of other Festival Express performances was included on that 1972 Joplin ''In Concert'' album. Video of the performances was included on the ''Festival Express'' DVD.

In the ''Tell Mama'' video shown on MTV in the 1980s, Joplin wore a psychedelically colored loose-fitting costume and feathers in her hair. This was her standard stage costume in the spring and summer of 1970. She chose the new costumes after her friend and designer, Linda Gravenites (whom Joplin had praised in the May 1968 issue of ''Vogue''), cut ties with Joplin shortly after their return from Brazil, due largely to Joplin's continued use of heroin.

During the ''Festival Express'' tour, Joplin was accompanied by ''Rolling Stone'' writer David Dalton, who would later write several articles and a book on Joplin. She told Dalton:

''Pearl''

Among her last public appearances were two broadcasts of ''The Dick Cavett Show''. In a June 25, 1970, appearance, she announced that she would attend her ten-year high-school class reunion. When asked if she had been popular in school, she admitted that when in high school, her schoolmates "laughed me out of class, out of town and out of the state." In the August 3, 1970, Cavett broadcast, Joplin referred to her upcoming performance at the Festival for Peace to be held at Shea Stadium in Queens, New York, on August 6, 1970.

Joplin attended the reunion on August 14, accompanied by fellow musician and friend Bob Neuwirth, road manager John Cooke, and her sister Laura, but it reportedly proved to be an unhappy experience for her. Joplin held a press conference in Port Arthur during her reunion visit. Interviewed by ''Rolling Stone'' journalist Chet Flippo, she was reported to wear enough jewelry for a "Babylonian whore." When asked by a reporter during the reunion if Joplin entertained at Thomas Jefferson High School when she was a student there, Joplin replied, "Only when I walked down the aisles." Joplin denigrated Port Arthur and the people who'd humiliated her a decade earlier in high school.

Joplin's last public performance, with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, took place on August 12, 1970, at the Harvard Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts. A positive review appeared on the front page of ''The Harvard Crimson'' newspaper despite the facts that Full Tilt Boogie performed with makeshift sound amplifiers after their regular equipment was stolen in Boston and Joplin was reportedly so intoxicated when she took the stage, she was only able to perform two songs.

During late August, September and early October 1970, Joplin and her band rehearsed and recorded a new album in Los Angeles with producer Paul A. Rothchild, who had produced recordings for The Doors. Although Joplin died before all the tracks were fully completed, there was still enough usable material to compile a long-playing record.

The result of the sessions was the posthumously released ''Pearl'' (1971). It became the biggest selling album of her career and featured her biggest hit single, a cover of Kris Kristofferson's ''Me and Bobby McGee''. Kristofferson had been Joplin's lover in the spring of 1970. The opening track ''Move Over'' was written by Joplin, reflecting the way that she felt men treated women. Also included was the social commentary of the a cappella ''Mercedes Benz'', written by Joplin, Bob Neuwirth and beat poet Michael McClure. The track on the album features the first and only take that Joplin recorded. The track ''Buried Alive In The Blues'', to which Joplin had been scheduled to add her vocals on the day she was found dead, was included as an instrumental. In 2003, ''Pearl'' was ranked #122 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Joplin checked into the Landmark Motor Hotel on August 24, 1970, which was located in Hollywood Heights near Sunset Sound Recorders where she began rehearsing and recording her album. During the sessions, Joplin continued a relationship with Seth Morgan, a 21-year-old UC Berkeley student, cocaine dealer and future novelist who had visited her new home in Larkspur, California several times in July and August. She and Morgan became engaged to be married in early September even though he visited Sunset Sound Recorders for just eight of the many sessions when Joplin worked, much to her dismay. Much later Morgan told biographer Myra Friedman that as a non-musician he felt excluded while in the studio. He stayed at Joplin's Larkspur home for days at a time while Joplin stayed alone at the Landmark, although several times she visited Larkspur to be with him and to check the progress of renovations she was having done on the house.

Peggy Caserta claimed in her 1973 book ''Going Down With Janis'' that she and Joplin had decided mutually in April 1970 to stay away from each other to avoid enabling each other's drug use. Caserta, a former Delta Airlines stewardess and owner of a clothing boutique in the Haight Ashbury, said that by September 1970 she had resorted to smuggling marijuana throughout California and she checked into the Landmark that month because it attracted drug users. Joplin learned of Caserta's presence in Los Angeles and staying at the same hotel from a heroin dealer who made deliveries to the Landmark. Joplin begged Caserta for heroin and within a few days became a regular customer of that heroin dealer.

Joplin's manager Albert Grossman and his assistant Myra Friedman had taken part in an intervention with Joplin the previous winter. While they worked at Grossman's New York office during the Pearl sessions, they knew Joplin was staying at a Los Angeles hotel but did not know it attracted drug users and dealers.

Death

The last recordings Joplin completed were on October 1, 1970 — ''Mercedes Benz'' and a birthday greeting for John Lennon, the Dale Evans ''Happy Trails''. Lennon, whose birthday was October 9, later told Dick Cavett that her taped greeting arrived at his home after her death. On Saturday, October 3, Joplin visited Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles to listen to the instrumental track for Nick Gravenites' song ''Buried Alive in the Blues'' prior to recording the vocal track, scheduled for the next day. At some point on Saturday, she learned by telephone that Seth Morgan was staying at her home and using her pool table with other women he had met that day. In the studio she was heard expressing anger about this and about Morgan having broken a promise to visit her the previous night, although she also expressed joy about the progress of the sessions. She and band member Ken Pearson went from the studio to Barney's Beanery for drinks. After midnight, Joplin drove him and a male fan who tagged along to the Landmark Motor Hotel.

When Joplin failed to show up at Sunset Sound Recorders for the next recording session by Sunday afternoon, producer Paul A. Rothchild became concerned. Full Tilt Boogie's road manager, John Cooke, drove to the Landmark. He saw Joplin's psychedelically painted Porsche 356C Cabriolet in the parking lot. Upon entering her room, he found her dead on the floor beside her bed. The official cause of death was an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol. Cooke believes that Joplin had accidentally been given heroin which was much more potent than normal, as several of her dealer's other customers also overdosed that week. Peggy Caserta admitted that, like Seth Morgan, she, too, had promised to visit Joplin at the Landmark on Friday night, October 2 and had stood her up in order to party with drug users who were staying at another Los Angeles hotel. According to ''Going Down With Janis'', Caserta learned from the dealer who sold heroin to her and Joplin that on Saturday Joplin expressed sadness about two friends having abandoned her the previous night.

Joplin was cremated in the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Mortuary in Los Angeles; her ashes were scattered from a plane into the Pacific Ocean and along Stinson Beach. The only funeral service was a private affair held at Pierce Brothers and attended by Joplin's parents and maternal aunt.

Joplin's will funded $2,500 to throw a wake party in the event of her demise. Around 200 guests received invitations to the party that read, “Drinks are on Pearl,” a reference to Joplin’s nickname. The party, which took place October 26, 1970, at the Lion's Share, located in San Anselmo, California, was attended by Joplin's sister Laura, fiancé, Seth Morgan and close friends, including tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle, Bob Gordon, and road manager John Cooke. Brownies laced with hashish were passed around.

Legacy

Joplin's death in October 1970 at the age of 27 stunned her fans and shocked the music world. Her death was coupled with the fact that another rock icon, Jimi Hendrix, had died sixteen days earlier in September. Music historian Tom Moon wrote that Joplin had "a devastatingly original voice." Music columnist Jon Pareles of the ''New York Times'' wrote that Joplin as an artist was "overpowering and deeply vulnerable." Author Megan Terry claimed that Joplin was the female version of Elvis Presley in the ability to captivate an audience.

In 1973, a book about Joplin by her publicist Myra Friedman was excerpted in many newspapers. At the same time, ''Going Down With Janis'' by Peggy Caserta attracted a lot of attention with its opening line, which graphically referred to her performing a sex act with Joplin while they were stoned on heroin in September 1970. Joplin's bandmate Sam Andrew much later described Caserta as "halfway between a groupie and a friend." According to an early 1990s statement by a close friend of Caserta who also knew Joplin, Caserta's book ''Going Down With Janis'' angered the Los Angeles heroin dealer she described in detail to her readers, including the make and model of his car. A "carful of dope dealers," wrote Ellis Amburn, visited, in 1973, a Los Angeles lesbian bar that Caserta had been frequenting since Joplin was alive. Amburn quoted Caserta's friend Kim Chappell, who happened to be in the alley behind the bar: "I was stabbed because, when Peggy's book came out, her dealer, the same one who'd given Janis her last fix, didn't like it that he was referred to and was out to get Peggy. He couldn't find her, so he went for her lover. When they realized who I was, they felt that my death would also hit Peggy, and so they stabbed me." Despite being "stabbed three times in the chest, puncturing both lungs," Chappell eventually recovered.

According to biographers Alice Echols and Myra Friedman, Peggy Caserta was one of many friends of Joplin who did not become clean and sober until a very long time after the singer's death, and others died from overdoses. One of her Big Brother bandmates got clean and sober as late as 1984. Caserta survived "a near-fatal OD in December 1995," wrote Echols. In 2000, Caserta appeared on-camera as a major source for a segment about Joplin on 20/20 (US television series).

Joplin's extraordinary success as a pioneer in a male-dominated rock industry of the late 1960s was unprecedented. Joplin, along with Grace Slick of the Jefferson Airplane, opened opportunities into the rock music business for future female singers. Stevie Nicks commented that after seeing Joplin perform, "I knew that a little bit of my destiny had changed. I would search to find that connection that I had seen between Janis and her audience. In a blink of an eye she changed my life."

Joplin's body art, with a wristlet and a small heart on her left breast, by the San Francisco tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle, is taken as a seminal moment in the tattoo revolution and was an early moment in the popular culture's acceptance of tattoos as art. Another trademark was her flamboyant hair styles, often including colored streaks and accessories such as scarves, beads and feathers. When in New York City, Joplin, often in the company of actor Michael Pollard, frequented Limbo on St. Marks Place. The performer, well known to the store's employees, made a practice of putting aside vintage and other one-of-a-kind garments she favored on stage and off.

Leonard Cohen's 1974 song "Chelsea Hotel #2" is about Joplin. Likewise, lyricist Robert Hunter has commented that Jerry Garcia's "Birdsong" from his first solo album, ''Garcia'', is about Joplin and the end of her suffering through death. Mimi Farina's composition "In the Quiet Morning", most famously covered by Joan Baez on her 1972 ''Come from the Shadows'' album, was a tribute to Joplin.

The 1979 film ''The Rose'' was loosely based on Joplin's life. Originally titled ''Pearl'', after Joplin's nickname, and the title of her last album, it was fictionalized after her family declined to allow the producers the rights to her story. Bette Midler earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

In 1988, the Janis Joplin Memorial, with an original bronze, multi-image sculpture of Joplin by Douglas Clark, was dedicated in Port Arthur, Texas.

Joplin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, and was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. In November 2009, the Hall of Fame and museum honored her as part of its annual American Music Masters Series. Among the artifacts at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum Exhibition are Joplin's scarf and necklaces, her 1965 Porsche 356 Cabriolet with psychedelically designed painting, and a sheet of LSD blotting paper designed by Robert Crumb, designer of the ''Cheap Thrills'' cover. She was the honoree at the Rock Hall's American Music Master concert and lecture series for 2009.

In the late 1990s, the musical play ''Love, Janis'' was created with input from Janis's younger sister Laura plus Big Brother guitarist Sam Andrew, with an aim to take it to Off Broadway. Opening in the summer of 2001 and scheduled for only a few weeks of performances, the show won acclaim and packed houses and was held over several times, the demanding role of the singing Janis attracting rock vocalists from relative unknowns to pop stars Laura Branigan and Beth Hart. A national tour followed.

There have been many attempts at making a film about Joplin. On June 13, 2010, producer Wyck Godfrey said Amy Adams starred in director Fernando Meirelles' biographical drama, titled ''Janis Joplin: Get It While You Can''. Previous attempts have included ''Piece Of My Heart'', which was to star Renée Zellweger or Brittany Murphy; ''The Gospel According To Janis'', with director Penelope Spheeris and starring either Zooey Deschanel or P!nk; and an untitled film thought to be an adaptation of Laura Joplin's Off-Broadway play about her sister, with the show's star, Laura Theodore, attached.

Joplin had a profound influence on many singers. Florence Welch of Florence and The Machine spoke of Joplins impact on her own musical prowess in an interview for ''Why Music Matters'' in a commercial against piracy:

Discography

; Big Brother and the Holding Company

! Title !! Release date !! Label !! Notes
	1967	Mainstream Records
''Big Brother and the Holding Company''	1967?	Columbia	Contains 2 extra single tracks
''Big Brother and the Holding Company''	1967, CD 1999		Contains 2 extra single tracks
	1968
''Cheap Thrills''	1968, CD 1999		Contains 4 extra tracks
''Live at Winterland '68''	1998		ASIN: B000007TSP

; Kozmic Blues Band

! Title !! Release date !! Label !! Notes
''I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!''	1969
''I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!''	1969, CD 1999		Contains 3 extra tracks

; Full Tilt Boogie Band

! Title !! Release date !! Label !! Notes
	1971		posthumous, 4x Multi-Platinum RIAA
''Pearl''	1971, CD unknown date
''Pearl''	1971, CD 1999		Contains 4 extra tracks
''Pearl''	1971, 2CD 2005		CD1 – 6 other extra tracksCD2 – full selection from The Festival Express Tour, 3 venues

; Big Brother & the Holding Company / Full Tilt Boogie

! Title !! Release date !! Label !! Notes
	1972		ASIN: B0000024Y7

; Later collections

! Title !! Release date !! Label !! Notes
''Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits''	1973		ASIN B00000K2W1, 7x Multi-Platinum RIAA
	1975
''Anthology''	1980		2 discs
''Farewell Song''	1983	Columbia Records	ASIN: B000W44S8E
''Cheaper Thrills''	1984	Fan Club	ASIN: B000LYA9X8
	1993	Columbia Legacy	3 discs – ASIN: B00000286P
18 Essential Songs	1995	Columbia Legacy	ASIN: B000002B1A, Gold RIAA
''The Collection''	1995	3 Discs	ASIN: B000BM6ATW
''Live at Woodstock: August 19, 1969''	1999
''Box of Pearls''	1999		5 Discs – ASIN: B0009YNSK6
''Super Hits''	2000	Sony	ASIN: B00004T1E6
''Love, Janis''	2001	Sony	ASIN: B00005EBIN
''Essential Janis Joplin''	2003	Sony	ASIN: B00007MB6Y
''Very Best of Janis Joplin''	2007	Import	ASIN: B000026A35
''The Woodstock Experience''	2009	Legacy Recordings

References

Further reading

Amburn, Ellis. ''Pearl: The Obsessions and Passions of Janis Joplin: A Biography''. NY: Warner Books, 1992. ISBN 0-446-39506-4.

Caserta, Peggy. ''Going Down with Janis: Janis Joplin's Intimate Story''. Dell: 1974. ASIN: B000NSBNMI.

Dalton, David. ''Piece of my Heart: A Portrait of Janis Joplin''. NY: Da Capo Press, 1991. ISBN 0-306-80446-8.

Echols, Alice. ''Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin''. NY: Henry Holt, 1999. ISBN 0-8050-5394-8.

Friedman, Myra. (1973). ''Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis Joplin''. New York: William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-00160-2.

ISBN 1-878923-08-0

Joplin, Laura. ''Love, Janis''. NY: Villard Books, 1992. ISBN 1-888358-08-4.

Stieven-Taylor, Alison. ''Rock Chicks''. Sydney: Rockpool Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-1-921295-06-5.

External links

Biography at The Handbook of Texas Online

JohnGilmore.com: Spotlight on Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin's Kozmic Blues - janisjoplin.net

Re-introducing Janis Joplin - slideshow by ''The New York Times''

Artwork created by Janis Joplin, from her family

Artistic performances

''Raise Your Hand'' Ed Sullivan Show - March 16, 1969

''Work Me Lord'' Woodstock - August 18, 1969

''Half Moon'' Dick Cavett Show - August 3, 1970

Category:1943 births Category:1970 deaths Category:Alcohol-related deaths Category:American blues singers Category:American child singers Category:American female singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American rock singers Category:American soul musicians Category:Drug-related deaths Category:Big Brother and the Holding Company members Category:Bisexual musicians Category:Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery Category:Deaths by heroin overdose in California Category:Female rock singers Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Musicians from Texas Category:People from Austin, Texas Category:People from Beaumont, Texas Category:People from Port Arthur, Texas Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees‎ Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni Category:Lamar University alumni

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Coordinates	50°53′″N20°37′″N
Name	Jerry Garcia
Landscape	yes
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Jerome John Garcia
Born	August 1, 1942San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	August 09, 1995Forest Knolls, California, U.S.
Occupation	Musician, songwriter
Instrument	Guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo, vocals
Genre	Folk rock, jam, bluegrass, country rock, jazz, rock and roll, psychedelic rock, rhythm and blues, blues-rock
Years active	1960–1995
Label	Rhino, Arista, Warner Bros., Acoustic Disc, Grateful Dead
Associated acts	Grateful Dead, Legion of Mary, Reconstruction, Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, New Riders of the Purple Sage
Website	JerryGarcia.com
Notable instruments	Gibson SGsGuild Starfire1957 Gibson Les PaulGold-top Les Paul with P-90Fender Stratocaster "Alligator"Doug Irwin-modified Alembic "Wolf" Doug Irwin Custom "Tiger" Doug Irwin Custom "Rosebud"Stephen Cripe Custom "Lightning Bolt," Martin D-28, Takamine acoustic-electric guitars }}

Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead. Though he vehemently disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader or "spokesman" of the group.

One of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for their entire three-decade career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders-Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), Jerry Garcia Band, Old and in the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo, Legion of Mary, and the New Riders of the Purple Sage (which Garcia co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson). He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known by many for his distinctive guitar playing and was ranked 13^th in ''Rolling Stone'''s "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story.

Later in life, Garcia was sometimes ill because of his unstable weight, and in 1986 went into a diabetic coma that nearly cost him his life. Although his overall health improved somewhat after that, he also struggled with heroin addiction, and was staying in a California drug rehabilitation facility when he died of a heart attack in August 1995.

Childhood and early life

Jerry Garcia's ancestry was Galician (Spanish), Irish, and Swedish. He was born in San Francisco, California, on August 1, 1942, to Jose Ramon "Joe" Garcia and Ruth Marie "Bobbie" (née Clifford) Garcia. His parents named him after composer Jerome Kern. Jerome John was their second child, preceded by Clifford Ramon "Tiff", who was born in 1937. Shortly before Clifford's birth, their father and a partner leased a building in downtown San Francisco and turned it into a bar, partly in response to Jose being blackballed from a musician's union for moonlighting.

Garcia was influenced by music at an early age, taking piano lessons for much of his childhood. His father was a retired professional musician and his mother enjoyed playing the piano. His father's extended family—who had emigrated from Spain in 1919—would often sing during reunions.

At age four, while vacationing in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Garcia underwent amputation of two-thirds of his right middle finger. Garcia was given the chore of steadying wood while his elder brother chopped, when he inadvertently put his finger in the way of the falling axe. After his mother wrapped his hand in a towel Garcia's father drove him over thirty miles to the nearest hospital. A few weeks later, Garcia—who never looked at the finger after the accident—was surprised to discover most of it missing when the bandage he was wearing came off during a bath. Garcia later confided that he often used it to his advantage in his youth, showing it off to other children in his neighborhood.

Garcia experienced several tragic events during his youth. Less than a year after losing the segment of his finger, his father died. While on vacation with his family near Arcata in Northern California in 1947, his father went fly-fishing in the Trinity River, part of the Six Rivers National Forest. Not long after entering he slipped on a rock underfoot, plunging into the deep rapids of the river. The incident was witnessed by a group of boys who immediately sought help, beckoning a pair of nearby fishermen. By the time he was pulled from the water, he had already drowned. Garcia later claimed to have seen his father fall into the river, but Dennis McNally, author of the book ''A Long Strange Trip: The Inside Story of the Grateful Dead'', asserts that he did not, instead forming the memory from hearing the story repeated many times. Blair Jackson, who wrote the biography ''Garcia: An American Life'', lends weight to McNally's claim, citing that the newspaper article describing Jose's death made no mention of Garcia being at the scene—even misidentifying him as his parents' daughter.

Following the accident, Garcia's mother took over their late father's bar, buying out his partner for full ownership. As a result, Ruth Garcia began working full-time, sending Jerry and his brother to live just down the road with their maternal grandparents, Tillie and William Clifford. During the five-year period in which he lived with his grandparents, Garcia enjoyed a large amount of autonomy and attended Monroe School, the local elementary school. At the school, Garcia was greatly encouraged in his artistic abilities by his third grade teacher: through her, he discovered that "being a creative person was a viable possibility in life." According to Garcia, it was around this time that he was opened up to country and to bluegrass by his grandmother, who he recalled enjoyed listening to the Grand Ole Opry. His elder brother, Clifford, however, staunchly believed the contrary, insisting that Garcia was "fantasizing all [that] ... she'd been to Opry, but she didn't listen to it on the radio." It was at this point that Garcia started playing the banjo, his first stringed instrument.

In 1953, Garcia's mother was remarried to a man named Wally Matusiewicz. Subsequently, Garcia and his brother moved back home with their mother and new stepfather. However, due to the roughneck reputation of their neighborhood at the time, the Excelsior District, Garcia's mother moved their family to Menlo Park. During their stay in Menlo Park, Garcia became acquainted with racism and antisemitism, things he disliked intensely. The same year, Garcia was also introduced to rock and roll and rhythm and blues by his brother, and enjoyed listening to the likes of Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, B. B. King, Hank Ballard, and, in a few years, Chuck Berry. Clifford often memorized the vocals for his favorite songs, and would then make Garcia learn the harmony parts, a move to which Garcia later attributed much of his early ear training.

In mid-1957, Garcia began smoking cigarettes and was introduced to marijuana. Garcia would later reminisce about the first time he smoked marijuana: "Me and a friend of mine went up into the hills with two joints, the San Francisco foothills, and smoked these joints and just got so high and laughed and roared and went skipping down the streets doing funny things and just having a helluva time". During this time, Garcia also took up an art program at the San Francisco Art Institute to further his burgeoning interest in the visual arts. The teacher there was Wally Hedrick, an artist who came to prominence during the 1960s. During the classes, he often encouraged Garcia in his drawing and painting skills.

In June of the same year, Garcia graduated from the local Menlo Oaks school. He then moved with his family back to San Francisco, where they lived in an apartment above the newly built bar, having previously been torn down to make way for a freeway entrance. Two months later, on Garcia's fifteenth birthday, his mother purchased him an accordion, to his great disappointment. Garcia had long been captivated by many rhythm and blues artists, especially Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley: his one wish at this point was to have an electric guitar. After some pleading, his mother exchanged the accordion for a Danelectro with a small amplifier at a local pawnshop. Garcia's stepfather, who was somewhat proficient with instruments, helped tune his guitar to an unusual open tuning.

After a short stint at Denman Junior High School, Garcia attended tenth grade at Balboa High School in 1958, where he often got into trouble for skipping classes and fighting. Consequently, in 1959, Garcia's mother again moved the family to get Garcia to stay out of trouble, this time to Cazadero, a small town in Sonoma County, 90 miles north of San Francisco. This turn of events did not sit well with Garcia. To get to Analy High School, the nearest school, he had to travel by bus thirty miles to Sebastopol, a move which only made him more unhappy. Garcia did, however, join a band at his school known as the Chords. After performing and winning a contest, the band's reward was recording a song—they chose "Raunchy" by Bill Doggett.

Recording career

Relocation and band beginnings

Garcia stole his mother's car in 1960, and as punishment, joined the United States Army. He received basic training at Fort Ord. After training, he was transferred to Fort Winfield Scott in the Presidio of San Francisco. Garcia spent most of his time in the army at his leisure, missing roll call and accruing many counts of AWOL. As a result, Garcia was given a general discharge on December 14, 1960.

In January 1961, Garcia drove down to East Palo Alto to see Laird Grant, an old friend from middle school. Garcia, using his final paycheck from the army, purchased some gasoline and an old Chevrolet car, which barely made it to Grant's residence before it broke down. Garcia proceeded to spend the next few weeks sleeping where friends would allow, eventually using his car as a home. Through Grant, Garcia met Dave McQueen in February, who, after hearing Garcia perform some blues, acquainted him with many people from the local area, as well as introduced him to the people at the Chateau, a rooming house located near Stanford University which was then a popular hangout.

On February 20, 1961, Garcia entered a car with Paul Speegle, a 16-year-old artist and acquaintance of Garcia; Lee Adams, the house manager of the Chateau and driver of the car; and Alan Trist, a companion of theirs. After speeding past the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital, the car encountered a curve and, traveling around ninety miles per hour, collided with the guard rail, sending the car rolling turbulently. Garcia was hurled through the windshield of the car into a nearby field with such force he was literally thrown out of his shoes and would later be unable to recall the ejection. Lee Adams, the driver, and Alan Trist, who was seated in the back, were thrown from the car as well, suffering from abdominal injuries and a spine fracture, respectively. Garcia escaped with a broken collarbone, while Speegle, still in the car, was fatally injured.

The accident served as an awakening for Garcia, who later commented: "That's where my life began. Before then I was always living at less than capacity. I was idling. That was the slingshot for the rest of my life. It was like a second chance. Then I got serious". It was at this time that Garcia began to realize that he needed to begin playing the guitar in earnest—a move which meant giving up his love of drawing and painting.

Garcia met Robert Hunter in April 1961. Hunter would go on to become a long-time lyrical collaborator with the Grateful Dead. Living out of his car next to Robert Hunter on a lot in East Palo Alto, Garcia and Hunter began to participate in the local art and music scenes, sometimes playing at Kepler's Books. Garcia performed his first concert with Hunter, each earning five dollars. Garcia and Hunter would also play in a band with David Nelson, a contributor to a few Grateful Dead albums, labeled the Wildwood Boys.

In 1962 Garcia met Phil Lesh, the eventual bassist of the Grateful Dead, during a party in Menlo Park's bohemian Perry Lane neighborhood (where Ken Kesey lived). Lesh would later write in his autobiography that Garcia resembled the "composer Claude Debussy: dark, curly hair, goatee, Impressionist eyes".

While attending another party in Palo Alto, Lesh approached Garcia to suggest that he record some songs on Lesh's tape recorder (Phil was musically trained, though he did not start playing bass guitar until the formation of the Grateful Dead in 1965) with the intention of getting them played on the radio station KPFA. Using an old Wollensak tape recorder, they recorded "Matty Groves" and "The Long Black Veil", among several other tunes. Their efforts were not in vain, and they later landed a spot on the show, where a ninety-minute special was done specifically on Garcia. It was broadcast under the title "'The Long Black Veil' and Other Ballads: An Evening with Jerry Garcia".

Garcia soon began playing and teaching acoustic guitar and banjo. One of Garcia's students was Bob Matthews, who later engineered many of the Grateful Dead's albums. Matthews went to high school and was friends with Bob Weir, and on New Year's Eve 1963, he introduced Weir and Garcia to each other.

Between 1962 and 1964, Garcia sang and performed mainly bluegrass, old-time and folk music. One of the bands Garcia was known to perform with was the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers, a bluegrass act. The group consisted of Jerry Garcia on guitar, banjo, vocals, and harmonica, Marshall Leicester on banjo, guitar, and vocals, and Dick Arnold on fiddle and vocals. Soon thereafter, Garcia joined a local bluegrass and folk band called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, whose membership also included Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, a rhythm and blues fan.

Around this time, the psychedelic LSD was beginning to gain prominence. Garcia first began experimenting with LSD in 1964; later, when asked how it changed his life, he remarked: "Well, it changed everything [...] the effect was that it freed me because I suddenly realized that my little attempt at having a straight life and doing that was really a fiction and just wasn't going to work out. Luckily I wasn't far enough into it for it to be shattering or anything; it was like a realization that just made me feel immensely relieved".

In 1965, Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions evolved into the Warlocks, with the addition of Phil Lesh on bass guitar and Bill Kreutzmann on percussion. However, the band quickly learned that another group was already performing under their newly selected name, prompting another name change. After several suggestions, Garcia came up with the name by opening a Funk and Wagnall's dictionary. He was then promptly greeted with the "Grateful Dead". The definition provided for "Grateful Dead" was "a dead person, or his angel, showing gratitude to someone who, as an act of charity, arranged their burial". The band's immediate reaction was disapproval. Garcia later explained the group's feelings towards the name: "I didn't like it really, I just found it to be really powerful. [Bob] Weir didn't like it, [Bill] Kreutzmann didn't like it and nobody really wanted to hear about it. [...]" Despite their dislike of the name, it quickly spread by word of mouth, and soon became their official title.

Career with the Grateful Dead

Garcia served as lead guitarist, as well as one of the principal vocalists and songwriters of the Grateful Dead for their entire career. Garcia composed such songs as "Dark Star", "Franklin's Tower", and "Scarlet Begonias", among many others. Robert Hunter, an ardent collaborator with the band, wrote the lyrics to all but a few of Garcia's songs.

Garcia was well-noted for his "soulful extended guitar improvisations", which would frequently feature interplay between himself and his fellow band members. His fame, as well as the band's, arguably rested on their ability to never play a song the same way twice. Often, Garcia would take cues from rhythm guitarist Bob Weir on when to solo, remarking that "there are some [...] kinds of ideas that would really throw me if I had to create a harmonic bridge between all the things going on rhythmically with two drums and Phil [Lesh's] innovative bass playing. Weir's ability to solve that sort of problem is extraordinary. [...] Harmonically, I take a lot of my solo cues from Bob."

When asked to describe his approach to soloing, Garcia commented: "It keeps on changing. I still basically revolve around the melody and the way it’s broken up into phrases as I perceive them. With most solos, I tend to play something that phrases the way the melody does; my phrases may be more dense or have different value, but they’ll occur in the same places in the song. [...]"

Garcia and the band toured almost constantly from their formation in 1965 until Garcia's death in 1995, a stint which gave credit to the name "endless tour". Periodically, there were breaks due to exhaustion or health problems, often due to unstable health and/or Garcia's drug use. During their three decade span, the Grateful Dead played 2,314 shows.

Garcia's mature guitar-playing melded elements from the various kinds of music that had enthralled him. Echoes of bluegrass playing (such as Arthur Smith and Doc Watson) could be heard. But the "roots music" behind bluegrass had its influence, too, and melodic riffs from Celtic fiddle jigs can be distinguished. There was also early rock (like Lonnie Mack, James Burton and Chuck Berry), contemporary blues (such as Freddie King and Lowell Fulson), country and western (such as Roy Nichols and Don Rich), and jazz (like Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt) to be heard in Jerry's style. Don Rich was the sparkling country guitar player in Buck Owens's "the Buckaroos" band of the 1960s, but besides Rich's style, both Garcia's pedal steel guitar playing (on Grateful Dead records and others) and his standard electric guitar work, were influenced by another of Owens's Buckaroos of that time, pedal-steel player Tom Brumley. And as an improvisational soloist, John Coltrane was one of his greatest personal and musical influences.

Garcia later described his playing style as having "descended from barroom rock and roll, country guitar. Just 'cause that's where all my stuff comes from. It's like that blues instrumental stuff that was happening in the late Fifties and early Sixties, like Freddie King." Garcia's style varied somewhat according to the song or instrumental to which he was contributing. His playing had a number of so-called "signatures" and, in his work through the years with the Grateful Dead, one of these was lead lines making much use of rhythmic triplets (examples include the songs "Good Morning Little School Girl", "New Speedway Boogie", "Brokedown Palace", "Deal", "Loser", "Truckin'", "That's It for the Other One", "U.S. Blues", "Sugaree", and "Don't Ease Me In").

Side projects

In addition to the Grateful Dead, Garcia had numerous side projects, the most notable being the Jerry Garcia Band. He was also involved with various acoustic projects such as Old and in the Way and other bluegrass bands, including collaborations with noted bluegrass mandolinist David Grisman. The documentary film ''Grateful Dawg'' chronicles the deep, long-term friendship between Garcia and Grisman.

Other groups of which Garcia was a member at one time or another include the Black Mountain Boys, Legion of Mary, Reconstruction, and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. Jerry Garcia was also an appreciative fan of jazz artists and improvisation: he played with jazz keyboardists Merl Saunders and Howard Wales for many years in various groups and jam sessions, and he appeared on saxophonist Ornette Coleman's 1988 album, ''Virgin Beauty''. His collaboration with Merl Saunders and Muruga Booker on the Grammy-nominated world music album ''Blues From the Rainforest'' launched the Rainforest Band.

Garcia also spent a lot of time in the recording studio helping out fellow musician friends in session work, often adding guitar, vocals, pedal steel, sometimes banjo and piano and even producing. He played on over 50 studio albums the styles of which were eclectic and varied, including bluegrass, rock, folk, blues, country, jazz, electronic music, gospel, funk, and reggae. Artists who sought Garcia's help included the likes of Jefferson Airplane (most notably ''Surrealistic Pillow'', Garcia being listed as their "Spiritual Advisor"), Tom Fogerty, David Bromberg, Robert Hunter (''Liberty'', on Relix Records), Paul Pena, Peter Rowan, Warren Zevon, Country Joe McDonald, Ken Nordine, Ornette Coleman, Bruce Hornsby, Bob Dylan and many more. He was also one of the first musicians to really cover in depth Motown music in the early 1970s and probably the most prolific coverer of Bob Dylan songs. In 1995 Garcia played on three tracks for the CD ''Blue Incantation'' by guitarist Sanjay Mishra, making it his last studio collaboration.

Throughout the early 1970s, Garcia, Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, drummer Mickey Hart, and David Crosby collaborated intermittently with MIT-educated composer and biologist Ned Lagin on several projects in the realm of early electronica; these include the album ''Seastones'' (released by the Dead on their Round Records subsidiary) and ''L'', an unfinished dance work.

Garcia also lent pedal-steel guitar playing to fellow-San Francisco musicians New Riders of the Purple Sage from their initial dates in 1969 to October 1971, when increased commitments with the Dead forced him to opt out of the group. He appears as a band member on their début album ''New Riders of the Purple Sage'', and produced ''Home, Home On The Road'', a 1974 live album by the band. He also contributed pedal steel guitar to the enduring hit "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Garcia also played steel guitar licks on Brewer & Shipley's 1970 album ''Tarkio''. Despite considering himself a novice on the pedal steel, Garcia routinely ranked high in player polls. After a long lapse from playing the pedal-steel, he played it once more during several of the Dead's concerts with Bob Dylan during the summer of 1987.

Having studied art at the San Francisco Art Institute, Garcia embarked on a second career in the visual arts. He offered for sale and auction to the public a number of illustrations, lithographs, and water colors. Some of those pieces became the basis of a line of men's neckties characterized by bright colors and abstract patterns. Even in 2005, ten years after Garcia's death, new styles and designs continued to be produced and sold.

Personal life

Garcia met his first wife, Sara Ruppenthal Garcia, in 1963. She was working at the coffee house in the back of Kepler's Bookstore where Garcia, Hunter, and Nelson performed. They married on April 23 of the same year, and had their only child together, a daughter whom they named Heather, on December 8, 1963.

Garcia and his fellow musicians were subjected to a handful of drug busts during their lifetime. On October 2, 1967, 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco (where the Grateful Dead had taken up residence the year before) was raided after a police tip-off. Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan were apprehended on marijuana charges which were later dropped, although Garcia himself was not arrested. The following year, ironically, Garcia's picture was used in a campaign commercial for Richard Nixon.

Most of the Grateful Dead were arrested again in January 1970, after they flew to New Orleans from Hawaii. After returning to their hotel from a performance, the band checked into their rooms, only to be quickly raided by police. Around fifteen people were arrested on the spot, including many of the road crew, management, and nearly all of the Grateful Dead (except Garcia, who arrived later, and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who was not taking drugs at the time).

During August 1970, Garcia's mother Ruth was involved in a car accident near Twin Peaks in San Francisco. Garcia, who was recording the album ''American Beauty'' at the time, often left the sessions to visit his mother with his brother Clifford. She died on September 28, 1970. That same year, Garcia participated in the soundtrack for the film ''Zabriskie Point''.

Carolyn Adams, also known as 'Mountain Girl', gave birth to Garcia's second and third daughters, Annabelle Walker Garcia (February 2, 1970) and Theresa Adams "Trixie" Garcia (September 21, 1974). Adams and Garcia married in 1981.

In 1975, around the time ''Blues for Allah'' was being created, Garcia met Deborah Koons, the woman who would much later become his third wife and widow. He began seeing her while he was still involved with Adams, with whom Koons had a less-than-perfect relationship. Garcia and Adams eventually went different ways.

While touring in late 1973 the band began to use cocaine in order to reduce the exhausting effects of constantly being on the road. During the band's hiatus in 1975, Garcia was introduced to a smoke-able form of heroin. Influenced by the stresses of creating and releasing ''The Grateful Dead Movie'' in 1977, Garcia's cocaine and heroin use increased. This, combined with the drug use of several other members of the Grateful Dead, produced turbulent times for the band: the band's chemistry began "cracking and crumbling", resulting in poor group cohesion. As a result, Keith and Donna Godchaux were asked to leave the band in February 1979. With the addition of the astounding keyboardist Brent Mydland, the band was reaching new heights. Though things seemed to be getting better for the band, Garcia's health was descending. By 1983, Garcia had lost his "liveliness" on stage. The so-called "endless tour", the result of years of financial risks, drug use and mistakes, also became extremely taxing.

Garcia's use of heroin increased heavily over the years, eventually culminating in the rest of the Grateful Dead holding an intervention in January of 1985. Given the choice between the band or the drugs, Garcia readily agreed to check into a rehabilitation center in Oakland, California. A few days later in January, nearing the completion of his program in Oakland, Garcia was arrested for drug possession in Golden Gate Park; Garcia subsequently attended a drug diversion program. Throughout 1985, Garcia fought to kick his habit while on tour, and by 1986, was completely clean.

Precipitated by an unhealthy weight, bad eating habits, and recent drug use, Garcia collapsed into a diabetic coma in July 1986, waking up five days later. Garcia later spoke about this period of unconsciousness as surreal: "Well, I had some very weird experiences. My main experience was one of furious activity and tremendous struggle in a sort of futuristic, space-ship vehicle with insectoid presences. After I came out of my coma, I had this image of myself as these little hunks of protoplasm that were stuck together kind of like stamps with perforations between them that you could snap off." Garcia's coma had a profound effect on him: it forced him to have to relearn how to play the guitar, as well as other, more basic skills. Within a handful of months, Garcia quickly recovered, playing with the Jerry Garcia Band and the Grateful Dead again later that year. Garcia frequently saw a woman named Manasha Matheson during this period. Together they produced Garcia's fourth and final child, a girl named Keelin Noel Garcia, who was born December 20, 1987. (Jerry, Keelin and Manasha toured and shared a home together as a family until 1993.) After Garcia's recovery, the band released a comeback album "In the Dark" in 1987, which became their best ever selling studio album. Inspired by Garcia's improved health and a successful album, the band's energy and chemistry peaked in the late 1980's and 1990.

During the summer of 1990, when keyboardist Brent Mydland died, Garcia relapsed. Before the winter tour later 1990, Garcia was confronted by the Grateful Dead with another intervention. After a disastrous meeting, Garcia invited Phil Lesh over to his home in San Rafael, California, where he explained that after the meeting he would start attending a methadone clinic. Garcia said that he simply wanted to clean up in his own way.

After returning from the Grateful Dead's 1992 summer tour, Garcia became extremely sick, evidently a throwback to his diabetic coma in 1986. Refusing to go to the hospital, he instead enlisted the aid of an acupuncturist named Yen Wei Choong and a licensed doctor to treat him personally at home. Garcia recovered over the following days, despite the Grateful Dead having to cancel their fall tour to allow him time to recuperate. Following this episode, Garcia quit smoking and began losing weight.

Garcia and girlfriend Barbara Meier, who had met in December of the previous year, separated at the beginning of the Dead's 1993 spring tour. In 1994, Garcia renewed acquaintances with Deborah Koons, with whom he had been involved sometime around 1975. They married on February 14, 1994, in Sausalito, California. The wedding was attended by family and friends. Garcia had divorced Adams in January of that year.

By the beginning of 1995, Garcia's physical and mental condition began a decline. His playing ability suffered to the point where he would turn down the volume of his guitar, and he often had to be reminded of what song he was performing. Due to his frail condition, he began to use again just to dull the pain.

In light of his second drug relapse and current condition, Garcia checked himself into the Betty Ford Center during July 1995. His stay was limited, however, lasting only two weeks. Motivated by the experience, he then checked into the Serenity Knolls treatment center in Forest Knolls, California.

Death

On August 9, 1995, at 4:23 am, Garcia's body was discovered in his room at the rehabilitation clinic. The cause of death was a heart attack. Garcia had long struggled with drug addiction, weight problems, and sleep apnea, all of which contributed to his physical decline. Phil Lesh remarked in his autobiography that, upon hearing of Garcia's death, "I was struck numb; I had lost my oldest surviving friend, my brother." On the morning of August 10, Garcia was rested at a funeral home in San Rafael, California. On August 12, at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Belvedere, Garcia's funeral was held. It was attended by his family, the remaining Grateful Dead and their friends, including former basketball player Bill Walton and musician Bob Dylan, and his widow Deborah Koons, who barred Garcia's other two wives from the ceremony.

On August 13, a municipally-sanctioned public memorial took place in the Polo Fields of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and was attended by about twenty-five thousand people. The crowds produced hundreds of flowers, gifts, images, and even a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" in remembrance.

On April 4, 1996, Bob Weir and Deborah Koons spread half of Garcia's cremated ashes into the Ganges River at the holy city of Rishikesh, India, a site sacred to the Hindus. Then, according to Garcia's last wishes, the other half of his ashes were poured into the San Francisco Bay. Deborah Koons did not allow one of Garcia's ex-wives, Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Garcia, to attend the spreading of the ashes.

Musical equipment

Garcia played many guitars during his career, which ranged from Fender Stratocasters and Gibson SGs to custom-made instruments. During his thirty-odd years of being a musician, Garcia used about twenty-five different guitars.

In 1965, when Garcia was playing with the Warlocks, he used a Guild Starfire, which he also used on the début album of the Grateful Dead. Beginning in late 1967 and ending in 1968, Garcia played various colored Gibson Les Paul guitars. In 1969, he picked up the Gibson SG and used it for most of that year and 1970, except for a small period in between where he used a Sunburst Fender Stratocaster.

During Garcia's "pedal steel flirtation period" (as Bob Weir referred to it in ''Anthem to Beauty''), from approximately 1968 to 1973, he played a ZB Custom D-10 steel guitar, especially in his earlier public performances. Although this was a double neck guitar, Garcia often would choose not to attach the last 5 pedal rods for the rear or Western Swing neck. Additionally, he was playing an Emmons D-10 at the time of the Grateful Dead's and New Riders of the Purple Sage's final appearances at the Filmore East in late April 1971. Also, he had been given a Fender Pedal Steel (probably a 1000 model) prior to owning the ZB Custom, but did not play it much.

In 1969, Garcia played pedal steel on two notable outside recordings: the track "The Farm" on the Jefferson Airplane album ''Volunteers''; and the hit single "Teach Your Children" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young from their album ''Déjà Vu'', released in 1970. Garcia played on the latter album in exchange for harmony lessons for the Grateful Dead, who were at the time recording their acoustic albums ''Workingman's Dead'' and ''American Beauty''.

In 1972, Garcia used a Fender Stratocaster nicknamed Alligator for its alligator sticker on the pickguard. The guitar was given to him by Graham Nash. This was due in part to damage to his first custom-made guitar, made by Alembic. This guitar, nicknamed Wolf for a memorable sticker Garcia added below the tailpiece, cost $1500 - extremely high for the time.

In the late eighties Garcia, Weir and CSN (along with many others) endorsed Alvarez Yairi acoustic guitars. There are many photographs circulating (mostly promotional) of Jerry playing a DY99 Virtuoso Custom with a Modulus Graphite neck. He opted to play with the less decorated model but the promotional photo from the Alvarez Yairi catalog has him holding the "tree of life" model. This hand-built guitar was notable for the collaboration between Japanese luthier Kazuo Yairi and Modulus Graphite of San Rafael. As with most things Garcia, with his passing, the DY99 model is rendered legend and valuable among collectors.

Wolf was made with an ebony fingerboard and featured numerous embellishments like alternating grain designs in the headstock, ivory inlays, and fret marker dots made of sterling silver. The body was composed of western maple wood which had a core of purpleheart. Garcia later had former Alembic employee Doug Irwin replace the electronics inside the guitar, at which point he added his own logo to the headstock alongside the Alembic logo. The system included two interchangeable plates for configuring pickups: one was made for strictly single coils, while the other accommodated humbuckers. Shortly after receiving the modified instrument, Garcia requested another custom guitar from Irwin with the advice "don't hold back."

During the Grateful Dead's European Tour, Wolf was dropped on several occasions, one of which caused a minor crack in the headstock. Garcia returned it to Irwin to fix; during its two-year absence Garcia played predominantly Travis Bean guitars. On September 28, 1977, Irwin delivered the renovated Wolf back to Garcia. The wolf sticker which gave the guitar its name had now been inlaid into the instrument; it also featured an effects loop between the pick-ups and controls (so inline effects would "see" the same signal at all times) which was bypassable. Irwin also put a new face on the headstock with only his logo (he later claimed to have built the guitar himself, though pictures through time clearly show the progression of logos, from Alembic, to Alembic & Irwin, to only Irwin). In the "Grateful Dead Movie" Jerry is playing Wolf and this film provides excellent views of Wolf.

The above paragraph contains significant errors, in that Wolf was not delivered to Jerry until May 1973 and therefore could not have been used during a European tour in 1972. Additionally Doug states that Jerry paid Doug directly and that Doug's contracts were between Doug and Jerry. Wolf is clearly an Irwin Guitar and only in recent revisionist history is Wolf referenced as an Alembic.

Nearly seven years after he first requested it, Garcia received his third custom guitar from Irwin in 1979(The first Irwin was "Eagle", the second was "Wolf"). The first concert that Jerry played Tiger was August 4, 1979 at the Oakland Auditorium Arena. It was named Tiger from the inlay on the preamp cover. The body of Tiger was of rich quality: the top layer was cocobolo, with the preceding layers being maple stripe, vermilion, and flame maple, in that order. The neck was made of western maple with an ebony fingerboard. The pickups consisted of a single coil DiMarzio SDS-1 and two humbucker DiMarzio Super IIs which were easily removable due to Garcia's preference for replacing his pickups every year or two. The electronics were composed of an effects bypass loop, which allowed Garcia to control the sound of his effects through the tone and volume controls on the guitar, and a preamplifier/buffer which rested behind a plate in the back of the guitar. In terms of weight, everything included made Tiger tip the scales at 13½ pounds. This was Garcia's principal guitar for the next eleven years, and most played.

In 1990, Irwin completed Rosebud, Garcia's fourth custom guitar. It was similar to his previous guitar Tiger in many respects, but featured different inlays and electronics, tone and volume controls, and weight. Rosebud, unlike Tiger, was configured with three humbuckers; the neck and bridge pickups shared a tone control, while the middle had its own. Inside the guitar, a Roland GK-2 synthesizer was used in junction with GR-50 rack mount, producing the MIDI effects heard during live performances of this period. Sections of the guitar were hollowed out to bring the weight down to 11½ pounds. The inlay, a dancing skeleton holding a rose, covers a plate just below the bridge. The final cost of the instrument was $11,000.

In 1993, carpenter-turned-luthier Stephen Cripe tried his hand at making an instrument for Garcia. After researching Tiger through pictures and films, Cripe set out on what would soon become known as Lightning Bolt, again named for its inlay. The guitar used Brazilian rosewood for the fingerboard and East Indian rosewood for the body, which, with admitted irony from Cripe, was taken from a 19th century bed used by opium smokers. Built purely from guesswork, Lightning Bolt was a hit with Garcia, who began using the guitar exclusively. Soon after, Garcia requested that Cripe build a backup of the guitar. Cripe, who had not measured or photographed the original, was told simply to "wing it."

Cripe later delivered the backup, which was known by the name Top Hat. Garcia bought it from him for the price of $6,500, making it the first guitar that Cripe had ever sold. However, infatuated with Lightning Bolt, Garcia rarely used the backup.

After Garcia's death, the ownership of his Wolf and Tiger came into question. According to Garcia's will, his guitars were to go to Doug Irwin, who had constructed them. The remaining Grateful Dead members disagreed—they considered his guitars to be property of the band, leading to a lawsuit between the two parties. In 2001, Irwin won the case. Irwin, being a victim of a hit-and-run accident in 1998, was left nearly penniless. He placed Garcia's guitars up for auction in hopes of being able to start another guitar workshop.

On May 8, 2002, Wolf and Tiger, among other memorabilia, were placed for auction at Studio 54 in New York City. Tiger was purchased for $957,500, while Wolf was bought for $789,500. Together, the instruments were bought for 1.74 million dollars, setting a new world record. Wolf is in a private collection kept in a secure climate controlled room in a private residence at Utica, N.Y., and Tiger is in the private collection of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.

Legacy

Garcia appeared in the 1977 movie ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' as an extra during the scenes in India in a crowd shot. During the following year, the Grateful Dead would occasionally improvise the theme from "Close Encounters" in concert.

In 1987, ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry's came out with Cherry Garcia, which is named after the guitarist and consists of "cherry ice cream with cherries and fudge flakes".

Garcia was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead in 1994.

Famous guitar player and known Jerry fan Warren Haynes wrote the song "Patchwork Quilt" in memory of Jerry.

In the episode titled "Halloween: The Final Chapter" on the show ''Roseanne'', aired shortly after his death on October 31, 1995, a tribute to Jerry Garcia was made, and the character name of the baby was Jerry Garcia Conner.

In 2003, ''Rolling Stone Magazine'' ranked Jerry Garcia 13^th in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

In 2005, Rapper Proof from the group D12 released an album named after Garcia, ''Searching for Jerry Garcia''. The album was dedicated to the Grateful Dead and released ten years to the day of Garcia's death.

Ween recorded the song, "So Long Jerry" during the sessions for their 12 Golden Country Greats album, but it was left off the album, eventually appearing on the "Piss Up a Rope" single.

According to fellow Bay Area guitar player Henry Kaiser, Garcia is "the most recorded guitarist in history. With more than 2,200 Grateful Dead concerts, and 1,000 Jerry Garcia Band concerts captured on tape — as well as numerous studio sessions — there are about 15,000 hours of his guitar work preserved for the ages."

On July 30, 2004, Melvin Seals was the first Jerry Garcia Band member to headline an outdoor music and camping festival called the Grateful Garcia Gathering. The festival is a tribute to the Grateful Dead's guitarist Jerry Garcia. "Jerry Garcia Band" drummer David Kemper, joined Melvin Seals & JGB in 2007. To date, other musicians and friends of Jerry's have also included Donna Jean Godchaux, Mookie Siegel, Pete Sears, G.E. Smith, Barry Sless, and Jackie Greene to name a few musicians.

On July 21, 2005, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission passed a resolution to name the amphitheater in McLaren Park "The Jerry Garcia Amphitheater." The amphitheater is located in the Excelsior District, where Garcia grew up. The first show to happen at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater was Jerry Day 2005 on August 7, 2005. Tiff Garcia was the first person to welcome everybody to the "Jerry Garcia Amphitheater." Jerry Day is an annual celebration of Jerry in his childhood neighborhood. The dedication ceremony (Jerry Day 2) on October 29, 2005 was officiated by mayor Gavin Newsom.

On September 24, 2005, the ''Comes a Time: A Celebration of the Music & Spirit of Jerry Garcia'' tribute concert was held at the Hearst Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California. The concert featured Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Bruce Hornsby, Trey Anastasio, Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring, Michael Kang, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti, Mark Karan, Robin Sylvester, Kenny Brooks, Melvin Seals, Merl Saunders, Marty Holland, Stu Allen, Gloria Jones, and Jackie LaBranch.

Also in 2008, Georgia-based composer Lee Johnson released an orchestral tribute to the music of the Grateful Dead, recorded with the Russian National Orchestra, entitled "Dead Symphony: Lee Johnson Symphony No. 6." Johnson was interviewed on NPR on the July 26, 2008 broadcast of "Weekend Edition", and gave much credit to the genius and craft of Garcia's songwriter. A live performance with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Johnson himself, was held Friday, August 1.

Seattle rock band Soundgarden wrote and recorded the instrumental song "Jerry Garcia's Finger", dedicated to the singer, which was released as a b-side with their single "Pretty Noose".

Numerous music festivals across the United States and Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK hold annual events in memory of Jerry Garcia.

Discography

Jerry Garcia

*''Garcia'' – 1972

*''Compliments'' – 1974

*''Reflections'' – 1976

*''Run for the Roses'' – 1982

Jerry Garcia Band

*''Cats Under the Stars'' – 1978

*''Jerry Garcia Band'' – 1991

*''How Sweet It Is'' – 1997

*''Don't Let Go'' – 2001

*''Shining Star'' – 2001

*''After Midnight: Kean College, 2/28/80'' – 2004

*''Let It Rock: The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2'' – 2009

Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band

*''Almost Acoustic'' – 1988

*''Ragged but Right'' – 2010

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders

*''Heavy Turbulence'' – with Tom Fogerty – 1972 (LP)

*''Fire Up'' – 1973 (LP)

*''Live at the Keystone'' – Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt – 1973 (LP)

*''Keystone Encores, Volume 1'' – Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt – 1988 (LP)

*''Keystone Encores, Volume 2'' – Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt – 1988 (LP)

*''Live at the Keystone Vol. 1'' – Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt – 1988 (CD)

*''Live at the Keystone Vol. 2'' – Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt – 1988 (CD)

*''Keystone Encores'' – Merl Saunders / Jerry Garcia / John Kahn / Bill Vitt – 1988 (CD)

*''Fire Up Plus'' – with John Kahn, Tom Fogerty and Ron Tutt – 1992 (CD)

*''Keystone Berkeley, September 1, 1974'' – Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders – 2004 (also listed under Pure Jerry series)

*''Legion of Mary: The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 1'' – Legion of Mary – 2005

*''Well Matched: The Best Of Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia'' – 2006 (also listed under Compilations)

New Riders of the Purple Sage

*''New Riders of the Purple Sage'' – 1971

*''Before Time Began'' – 1986

*''Vintage NRPS'' – 1986

Old and in the Way

*''Old and in the Way'' – 1975

*''That High Lonesome Sound'' – 1996

*''Breakdown'' – 1997

*''Live at the Boarding House'' – 2008

Jerry Garcia and David Grisman

*''Garcia/Grisman'' – 1991

*''Not for Kids Only'' – 1993

*''Shady Grove'' – 1996

*''So What'' – 1998

*''The Pizza Tapes'' (featuring Tony Rice) – 2000

*''Grateful Dawg'' – 2001

*''Been All Around This World'' – 2004

Compilations

*''All Good Things'' – 2004 (box set of studio albums ''Garcia'', ''Compliments'', ''Reflections'', ''Cats Under The Stars'', ''Run For The Roses', as well as outtakes, jams, and alternate versions)

*''Garcia Plays Dylan'' – 2005

*''The Very Best of Jerry Garcia'' – 2006

*''Well Matched: The Best Of Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia'' – 2006

Pure Jerry — a series of live concert CDs licensed by the Garcia Family LLC.

*''Theatre 1839, July 29 & 30, 1977'' – Jerry Garcia Band – 2004

''Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, October 31, 1987'' – Jerry Garcia Band and Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band – 2004     (This album is one of 10 "live jam releases of this century" according to the August issue of Guitar One magazine.)

*''Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, The Best of the Rest, October 15 – 30, 1987'' – Jerry Garcia Band and Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band – 2004

*''Keystone Berkeley, September 1, 1974'' – Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders – 2004

*''Merriweather Post Pavilion, September 1 & 2, 1989'' – Jerry Garcia Band – 2005

*''Warner Theatre, March 18, 1978'' – Jerry Garcia Band – 2005

*''Coliseum, Hampton, VA, November 9, 1991'' – Jerry Garcia Band – 2006 (with Bruce Hornsby)

*''Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, February 28, 1986'' – Jerry Garcia and John Kahn – 2009

*''Bay Area, 1978'' – Jerry Garcia Band – 2009

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With other artists

*''Surrealistic Pillow'' – Jefferson Airplane – 1967

*''Volunteers'' – Jefferson Airplane – 1970

*''Tarkio'' – Brewer & Shipley – 1970

*''Déjà Vu'' – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – 1970

*''Blows Against the Empire'' – Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship – 1970

*''Marrying Maiden'' – It's a Beautiful Day – 1970

*''Stephen Stills 2'' – Stephen Stills – 1971

*''Hooteroll?'' – Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia – 1971

*''If I Could Only Remember My Name'' – David Crosby – 1971

*''Sunfighter'' – Paul Kantner and Grace Slick – 1971

*''Powerglide'' – New Riders of the Purple Sage – 1972

*''Songs for Beginners'' – Graham Nash – 1972

*''Graham Nash David Crosby'' – Graham Nash and David Crosby – 1972

*''Excalibur'' – Tom Fogerty – 1972

*''Ace'' – Bob Weir – 1972

*''Wanted Dead or Alive'' – David Bromberg – 1973

*''Keith & Donna'' – Keith Godchaux and Donna Jean Godchaux – 1975

*''Virgin Beauty'' – Ornette Coleman – 1988

*''Devout Catalyst'' – Ken Nordine – 1992

*''Astronauts & Heretics'' – Thomas Dolby – 1992

*''Blue Incantation'' – Sanjay Mishra and Jerry Garcia – 1994

*''Trios'' – Rob Wasserman – 1994

*''Side Trips, Volume One'' – Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia – 1998

*''Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions'' – Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions – 1999

Notes and references

External links

The Jerry Site

Official Grateful Dead Website

Jerry Garcia discography at deaddisc.com

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:Culture of San Francisco, California Category:American banjoists Category:American rock guitarists Category:American bluegrass musicians Category:American musicians of Swedish descent Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American musicians of Spanish descent Category:Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:American amputees Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Deaths from diabetes Category:Grateful Dead members Category:Hispanic and Latino American people Category:History of San Francisco, California Category:Lead guitarists Category:Pedal steel guitarists Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:San Francisco Art Institute alumni Category:People from Sonoma County, California Category:United States Army soldiers Category:American Episcopalians Category:1942 births Category:1995 deaths Category:Sebastopol, California Category:People from Menlo Park, California

cs:Jerry Garcia da:Jerry Garcia de:Jerry García es:Jerry Garcia fa:جری گارسیا fr:Jerry García io:Jerry Garcia it:Jerry Garcia he:ג'רי גרסיה la:Hieronymus Garcia nl:Jerry Garcia no:Jerry García nn:Jerry Garcia pl:Jerry Garcia pt:Jerry Garcia ru:Гарсия, Джерри fi:Jerry García sv:Jerry García tr:Jerry Garcia uk:Джеррі Гарсія

Coordinates	50°53′″N20°37′″N
name	Blondie Chaplin
background	solo_singer
birth name	Terrence William Chaplin
alias	Blondie Chaplin
birth date	July 07, 1951
genre	Psychedelic Rock, Surf Rock, Rock, Baroque Pop, Psychedelic Pop
occupation	Musician, Songwriter, producer
years active	1969–present
label	Brother Records, Reprise Records, Capitol Records, Columbia
associated acts	Beach Boys, The Flames, Rick Danko, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, The Band
notable instruments	}}

Terence William 'Blondie' Chaplin is a musician from Durban, South Africa who first became known to international audiences through his brief stint in the early 1970s as a singer and guitarist for The Beach Boys. Chaplin was also listed as a co-producer, sang lead vocals with fellow South African musician Ricky Fataar (drummer) and composed, with Fataar, "Here She Comes" and "Hold On Dear Brother" on the twenty-third official Beach Boys album, ''Carl and the Passions - "So Tough"'', released in 1972. He is well known in recent years as a long term backing vocalist, percussionist and acoustic rhythm guitarist for the Rolling Stones on their tours.

Blondie Chaplin, along with drummer Ricky Fataar, joined the Beach Boys when original drummer Dennis Wilson suffered a hand injury which left him unable to play the drums for almost two years. For the Beach Boys, it was a period in which long-time member Bruce Johnston had departed the band, and one-time leader Brian Wilson's participation in the group was very limited. As a result, Chaplin and Fataar joined the Beach Boys as full-fledged members and not merely as backing musicians. Chaplin left the group in 1973 after a dispute with the Beach Boys' management; Fataar remained with the band until the following year.

Both Chaplin and Fataar were members of South African rock band The Flame before joining The Beach Boys. The Flame were discovered by Beach Boy Carl Wilson while performing in London. Wilson signed the band to the Beach Boys' Brother Records label and produced their self-titled album which featured soulful rock/pop songs in the vein of The Beach Boys and Badfinger. The Flame were the only band aside from The Beach Boys to record for Brother Records.

Chaplin sang lead on at least three Beach Boys songs, "Sail On, Sailor," "Leaving This Town" and "Funky Pretty" (all from the 1973 album ''Holland''). During the late 1980s Chaplin toured with The Band, replacing some of Richard Manuel's vocals and playing guitar. Chaplin was also a featured player in former Byrds members Gene Clark and Michael Clarke's new band, titled "The 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Byrds". Chaplin then appeared on the Jennifer Warnes albums ''The Hunter'' and ''The Well''. Since the late 1990s and the Bridges to Babylon Tour, Chaplin has been a backing vocalist and occasional guitar player for The Rolling Stones.

Chaplin has released three solo albums, most recently ''Between Us'' in 2006.

Discography

Other albums from the Blondie Chaplin catalogue:

The Flames - Burning Soul/Soulfire! - 1968/69

The Flames - The Best of the Flames, Teal Records, 1994

The Flame - ''The Flame'', Brother Records, 1970

Blondie Chaplin - ''Blondie Chaplin'', Asylum Records, 1977

David Johansen - ''Here Comes The Night'', Blue Sky Records, 1981

Skollie, ''Ostrich Man'', PVB Records, 1992

Blondie Chaplin, ''Fragile Thread'', unreleased(but in circulation), 2001

Rick Danko, ''Cryin Heart Blues'', 2005

Anton Fig, ''Figments'', 2002

References

External links

Official Website

}}

Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:South African rock musicians Category:The Beach Boys members Category:South African songwriters Category:South African record producers Category:Rock guitarists

de:Blondie Chaplin es:Blondie Chaplin it:Blondie Chaplin nl:Blondie Chaplin no:Blondie Chaplin

Coordinates	50°53′″N20°37′″N
Name	Levon Helm
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Mark Lavon Helm
Birth date	May 26, 1940
birth place	Marvell, Arkansas, United States
Instrument	Vocals, drums, mandolin, guitar, bass, harmonica
Genre	Rock and roll, rhythm and blues, rock, blues, country, folk
Occupation	Musician, songwriter, actor, producer
Years active	1957–present
Label	Capitol, Mobile Fidelity, MCA, Breeze Hill, Levon |Helm Studios, ABC, Vanguard, Roulette Records
Associated acts	The Band, Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks, Bob Dylan, Levon Helm's Ramble on the Road, Levon Helm and The RCO All-Stars, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band
Website	}}

Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (born May 26, 1940), is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band. Helm is known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, and creative drumming style highlighted on many of The Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", "Ophelia" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". His 2007 comeback album ''Dirt Farmer'' earned the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in February 2008, and in November of that year, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him #91 in the list of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2010, ''Electric Dirt'', his 2009 follow-up to ''Dirt Farmer'', won the first ever Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, an inaugural category in 2010.

Biography

Early years

Helm was born in Elaine, Arkansas, and grew up in Turkey Scratch, a hamlet west of Helena, Arkansas, the son of Nell and Diamond Helm, who were cotton farmers and also great lovers of music who encouraged their children to play and sing. Young Lavon (as he was christened) began playing the guitar at the age of eight and also played drums during his formative years. He saw Bill Monroe & his Blue Grass Boys at the age of six and decided then and there to become a musician.

Arkansas in the 1940s and 50s was at the confluence of a variety of musical styles—blues, country and R&B;—that later became known as rock and roll. Helm was influenced by all these styles listening to the Grand Ole Opry on radio station WSM and R&B; on radio station WLAC out of Nashville, Tennessee. He also saw traveling shows such as F.S. Walcott's Rabbit's Foot Minstrels that featured top African-American artists of the time.

Another early influence on Helm was the work of harmonica, guitarist and singer Sonny Boy Williamson II, who played blues and early R&B; on the King Biscuit Time radio show on KFFA in Helena and performed regularly in Marvell with blues guitarist Robert Jr. Lockwood. In his 1993 autobiography, ''This Wheel's on Fire - Levon Helm and the Story of The Band'', Helm describes watching Williamson's drummer, James "Peck" Curtis, intently during a live performance in the early 1950s and later imitating this R&B; drumming style. Helm established his first band, The Jungle Bush Beaters, while in high school.

Helm also witnessed some of the earliest performances by southern country, blues and rockabilly artists such as Elvis Presley, Conway Twitty, Bo Diddley and a fellow Arkansan, Ronnie Hawkins. At age 17, Helm began playing in clubs and bars around Helena.

The Hawks

After graduating from high school, Helm was invited to join Ronnie Hawkins' band, The Hawks, who were a popular bar and club act across the South and also in Canada, where rockabilly acts were very popular. Soon after Helm joined The Hawks, they moved to Toronto, Canada, where, in 1959, they signed with Roulette Records and released several singles, including a few hits.

Helm reports in his biography, ''This Wheel's on Fire'', that fellow Hawks band members had difficulty pronouncing "Lavon" correctly, and started calling him "Levon" () because it was easier.

In the early 1960s Helm and Hawkins recruited an all-Canadian lineup of musicians: guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel and organist Garth Hudson- although all the musicians were multi-instrumentalists. In 1963, the band parted ways with Hawkins and started touring under the name "Levon and The Hawks," and later as "The Canadian Squires" before finally changing back to "The Hawks." They recorded two singles, but remained mostly a popular touring bar band in Texas, Arkansas, Canada and on the East Coast where they found regular summer club gigs on the New Jersey shore.

By the mid 1960s, Bob Dylan was interested in performing electric rock music and asked The Hawks to be his backing band. Disheartened by fans' negative response to Dylan's new sound, Helm returned to Arkansas for what turned out to be a two-year layoff, being replaced by Mickey Jones. During this period Helm ended up working on off-shore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico until he was asked to rejoin the band. After the Hawks toured Europe as Dylan's backing band, they followed Dylan to reside in the area in and around Woodstock, New York and remained under salary to him. There they recorded a large volume of demo and practice tapes, playing almost daily with Dylan, who had completely withdrawn from public life the previous year. These recordings were widely bootlegged and the best tracks were officially released in 1975 as The Basement Tapes double album. The songs and themes developed during this period played a crucial role in the group's future direction and style. The Hawks members began writing their own songs. Rick Danko and Richard Manuel also shared writing credits with Dylan on a few songs. In 1967, Danko called Helm and invited him to return to the band in Woodstock.

The Band

Helm returned to the group, which by then was often referred to simply as "the band." While contemplating a recording contract Helm had dubbed the band as "The Crackers." However, when Robertson and Albert Grossman worked out the contracts, the group's name was cited as "The Band." Under these contracts, The Band was contracted to Grossman, who in turn contracted their services to Capitol Records. The arrangement allowed The Band to release recordings on other labels only if the work was done in support of Dylan. This allowed The Band to play on Dylan's Planet Waves album and on The Last Waltz, both non-Capitol releases. They recorded the album ''Music From Big Pink'', which catapulted them into stardom.

On ''Big Pink'', Manuel was the most prominent vocalist and Helm sang mainly backup, with the exception of "The Weight," but as Manuel's health deteriorated and Robbie Robertson's songwriting increasingly looked south for influence and direction, subsequent albums relied more and more on Helm's vocals, alone or in harmony with Danko. Helm played drums for perhaps 85% of The Band's songs, including most of those for which he sang lead. On the others, Manuel switched to drums while Helm played mandolin or, on rare occasion, guitar or bass. The entire group was multi-instrumental and for certain songs the group featured Manuel on drums, Helm on mandolin (as on "Evangeline"), rhythm guitar (the 12-string guitar backdrop to "Daniel and the Sacred Harp" is by Helm), or bass (while Danko played fiddle).

Helm remained with The Band until their 1976 farewell performance, ''The Last Waltz'', which was recorded in a documentary film by Martin Scorsese. Although many now know Helm through his appearance in the concert film – a performance remarkable for the fact that Helm's vocal tracks appear substantially as he sang them during a grueling concert – he repudiated his involvement with the film shortly after the final scenes were shot and, in his autobiography, offers scathing criticisms of the film and of his former bandmate, Robertson, who produced it.

Solo artist and the reformed Band

With the breakup of The Band in its original form, Helm began working on a solo album ''Levon Helm and the RCO All Stars'', which was followed soon thereafter by ''Levon Helm''. He recorded solo albums in 1980 and 1982 entitled ''American Son'' and (once again) ''Levon Helm''. Helm also participated in Paul Kennerley's 1980 country music concept album, ''The Legend of Jesse James'', singing the role of Jesse James alongside Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and Albert Lee.

In 1983, The Band reunited without Robbie Robertson, with Jim Weider on guitar. But then Manuel committed suicide while on tour in 1986. Helm, Danko and Hudson continued in The Band, releasing the album ''Jericho'' in 1993 and ''High on the Hog'' in 1996. The final album from The Band was the 30th anniversary album, ''Jubilation'', released in 1998.

In 1989, Helm and Rick Danko toured with Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. Other musicians in the band included Joe Walsh, Dr. John, Nils Lofgren, Billy Preston, Clarence Clemons and Jim Keltner. Garth Hudson guested on accordion on certain dates. Levon played drums, harmonica and sang "The Weight" and "Up On Cripple Creek" each night.

Helm published an autobiography entitled ''This Wheel's on Fire'' in 1993.

Helm performed with Rick Danko and Garth Hudson as The Band in 1990 at Roger Waters' Epic The Wall Live In Berlin concert to an estimated 300,000 to half a million people.

The Midnight Ramble

Helm's performance career in the 2000s has revolved mainly around the Midnight Ramble at his home and studio, "the Barn," in Woodstock, New York. These concerts, featuring Helm and a variety of musical guests, have allowed Helm to raise money for medical bills and to resume performing after a nearly career-ending bout with cancer.

Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer in the late 1990s after suffering hoarseness. Advised to undergo laryngectomy, Helm instead underwent an arduous regimen of radiation treatments at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Although the tumor was successfully removed, his vocal cords were damaged, and his clear, powerful tenor voice was replaced by a quiet rasp. Initially Helm only played drums and relied on guest vocalists at the Rambles, but Helm's singing voice grew stronger and on January 10, 2004, he sang for the first time at one of his Ramble Sessions. In 2007, during production of ''Dirt Farmer'', he estimated that his singing voice was 80% recovered.

The Levon Helm Band features his daughter Amy Helm, along with Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, Jimmy Weider (the Band's last guitarist), Jimmy Vivino, Mike Merritt, Brian Mitchell, Erik Lawrence, Steven Bernstein, Howard Johnson (tuba player in the horn section that played on The Band's "Rock of Ages" and "The Last Waltz" live albums), Byron Isaacs, and blues harmonica player Little Sammy Davis. He hosts Midnight Rambles at his home in Woodstock, New York that are open to the public.

The Midnight Ramble is an outgrowth of an idea Helm explained to Martin Scorsese in ''The Last Waltz.'' Earlier in the 20th century, Helm explained, traveling medicine shows and music shows such as F.S. Walcott Rabbit's Foot Minstrels, featuring African-American blues singers and dancers, would put on titillating performances in rural areas. This was also turned into a song by the Band, "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show," with the name altered so the lyric was easier to sing.

"After the finale, they'd have the midnight ramble," Helm told Scorsese. With young children off the premises, the show resumed: "The songs would get a little bit juicier. The jokes would get a little funnier and the prettiest dancer would really get down and shake it a few times. A lot of the rock and roll duck walks and moves came from that."

Artists who have performed at the Rambles include Helm's former bandmate Garth Hudson, as well as Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Chris Robinson, Allen Toussaint, Donald Fagen of Steely Dan and Jimmy Vivino of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien's" The Max Weinberg 7. Other performers have included Sean Costello, The Muddy Waters Tribute Band, Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Justin Townes Earle, Bow Thayer, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Ricki Lee Jones, Kate Taylor, Ollabelle, The Holmes Brothers, Catherine Russell, Norah Jones, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Phil Lesh (along with his sons Grahame and Brian), Hot Tuna (although Jorma Kaukonen introduced the group as "The Secret Squirrels"), MichaelAngelo D'Arrigo with various members of the Sistine Chapel, Johnny Johnson, Ithalia, and David Bromberg.

For drumming, in recent years Helm has switched to the matched grip and adopted a less busy, greatly simplified style, as opposed to his years with The Band when he played with the traditional grip.

Helm has been touring every year for the last few years, generally on the northeastern part of the American mainland, traveling to shows by private bus. Since 2007, Helm has performed in larger venues including the Beacon Theater in New York. Dr. John and Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers Band, Govt. Mule) and Garth Hudson played at the concerts as well along with several other guests. At a show in Vancouver, Canada, Elvis Costello joined to sing "Tears of Rage." The Alexis P. Suter Band has been an opening act. Helm is a favorite of Don Imus and has been frequently featured on ''Imus in the Morning.'' In the Summer of 2009 it was reported that a reality television series centering around the Midnight Ramble was in the works.

''Dirt Farmer'' and After

Fall 2007 saw the release of ''Dirt Farmer'', Helm's first studio solo album since 1982. Dedicated to Helm's parents and co-produced by his daughter Amy, the album combines traditional tunes Levon recalled from his youth with newer songs (by Steve Earle, Paul Kennerley and others) which flow from similar historical streams.

The album was released to almost immediate critical acclaim, and earned him a Grammy Award in the Traditional Folk Album category for 2007.

Helm declined to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony, instead holding a "Midnight Gramble" and celebrating the birth of his grandson, named Lavon (Lee) Henry Collins in honor of Helm, whose birth name is Mark Lavon Helm and who was called by his middle name since a young age.

In 2008 Levon Helm performed at Warren Haynes' Mountain Jam Music Festival in Hunter, NY. Helm played alongside Warren Haynes on the last day of the three-day festival. Levon also joined Bob Weir & Ratdog on stage as they closed out the festival. Levon Helm performed to great acclaim at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, held June 12–15.

Helm drummed on a couple of tracks for Jorma Kaukonen's February, 2009 album ''River of Time'', recorded at the Levon Helm studio.

Helm released ''Electric Dirt'' on his own label on June 30, 2009. The album won a best album Grammy for the newly created Americana category in 2010. He performed on the David Letterman show on July 9, 2009, touring, in a supporting role, with the Black Crowes during the same year.

In March, 2010, a documentary on Helm's day-to-day life titled ''Ain't in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm'' was released. Directed by Jacob Hatley, it made its debut at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, and went on to screen at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June.

On May 11, 2011, the ''Ramble at the Ryman'' live album was released by Welk Records. It was recorded during a show at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium in 2008 and features Levon Helm' s band (led by multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell and vocalist and mandolinist Amy Helm) playing The Band's well-known songs as well as Helm's solo material.

As an actor

Helm has also had a considerable career as an actor. He has appeared in the movies ''The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada'', ''Shooter'', ''Smooth Talk'', ''The Right Stuff'', ''The Dollmaker'', ''Feeling Minnesota, End of the Line'', ''In the Electric Mist'', ''Fire Down Below'', ''Staying Together'' and portrayed Loretta Lynn's father in the film ''Coal Miner's Daughter'' opposite Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones.

Tributes

Marc Cohn wrote the song "Listening to Levon" in 2007. "The Man Behind the Drums," written by Robert Earl Keen and Bill Whitbeck, appeared on Keen's 2009 album ''The Rose Hotel.''

Discography

With The Band

1968 ''Music from Big Pink''

1969 ''The Band''

1970 ''Stage Fright''

1971 ''Cahoots''

1972 ''Rock of Ages'' (live concert album)

1973 ''Moondog Matinee'' (collection of covers)

1974 ''Before the Flood'' (live album with The Band and Bob Dylan)

1975 ''Northern Lights - Southern Cross''

1975 ''The Basement Tapes'' (with Bob Dylan)

1977 ''Islands''

1978 ''The Last Waltz'' (live concert album with additional studio material)

1993 ''Jericho''

1996 ''High on the Hog''

1998 ''Jubilation''

Selected solo and other efforts

1977 ''Levon Helm & the RCO All-Stars'' (ABC) U.S. #142 1978 ''Levon Helm'' (ABC) U.S. #206

1980 ''American Son'' (MCA)

1982 ''Levon Helm'' (Capitol)

1999 ''The Ties That Bind'' (Raven Records)

2000 ''Souvenir, Vol. 1'' (Breeze Hill) – Levon Helm & The Crowmatix

2005 ''Midnight Ramble Sessions Volume I''

2005 ''Midnight Ramble Sessions Volume II''

2006 ''Levon Helm & the RCO All Stars Live'' (Levon Helm Studios)

2007 ''Dirt Farmer'' (Vanguard), U.S. #102

2009 ''Electric Dirt'' (Dirt Farmer Music), U.S. #36

2011 ''Ramble At The Ryman'' (Vanguard)

References

External links

Levon Helm's Official Site

Levon Helm's biography

[ Allmusic]

Review of Dirt Farmer

RS Editor's Review: Electric Dirt

Category:1940 births Category:Living people Category:ABC Records artists Category:American autobiographers Category:American country rock musicians Category:American drummers Category:American male singers Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:Cancer survivors Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musicians from Arkansas Category:Actors from Arkansas Category:People from Phillips County, Arkansas Category:The Band members Category:Vanguard Records artists

da:Levon Helm de:Levon Helm es:Levon Helm fr:Levon Helm nl:Levon Helm ja:リヴォン・ヘルム no:Levon Helm nn:Levon Helm pl:Levon Helm pt:Levon Helm sv:Levon Helm