Family were an English rock band that formed in late 1966 and disbanded in October 1973. Their style has been characterised as progressive rock, although their sound often explored other genres, incorporating elements of styles such as folk, psychedelia, acid, jazz fusion and rock and roll. The band achieved recognition in the United Kingdom through their albums, club and concert tours and appearances at festivals, but were unable to attract the same level of attention in USA.

The band's rotating membership throughout its relatively short existence led to a diversity in sound throughout their different albums. Family are also often seen as an unjustly forgotten act, when compared with other bands from the same period and have been described as an "odd band loved by a small but rabid group of fans".

Family formed in Late 1966 in Leicester, England from the remaining members of a group that was previously known as The Farinas and later The Roaring Sixties, whose sound was grounded in R&B. The Farinas originally consisted of John "Charlie" Whitney, Tim Kirchin, Harry Ovenall and Jim King, forming at Leicester Art College in 1962. Ric Grech replaced Kirchin on bass in 1965 and Roger Chapman joined the following year on vocals. The American record producer Kim Fowley suggested they call themselves "The Family" as they regularly wore double-breasted suits in performances, giving themselves a mafia appearance, a look they soon abandoned in favour a more casual dress code. They played the famous Marquee Club in April 1967. Family's debut single, "Scene Through The Eye Of A Lens/Gypsy Woman", produced by Jimmy Miller and released by Liberty Records in October 1967, was not a success. Around this time, drummer Harry Ovenall was asked to leave the band and was replaced by Rob Townsend.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band is a multicultural American funk and soul band led by pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph. Other band members include drummer Marcus Randolph, bass guitarist Danyel Morgan, vocalist Lenesha Randolph, keyboardist and guitarist Brett Andrew Haas, and one of three rotating rhythm guitarists: Joey Williams of Blind Boys of Alabama, Adam "Shmeeans" Smirnoff, and Cousin Ray-Ray. Jason Crosby (keyboards and fiddle) and John Ginty (organ) are former members. Rolling Stone included Robert on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Frontman Robert Randolph was trained as a pedal steel guitarist in the House of God Church and makes prominent use of the instrument in the band's music. The instrument is referred to in many African-American Pentecostal churches as Sacred Steel. Randolph was discovered while playing at a sacred steel convention in Florida.

Randolph cites Stevie Ray Vaughan as a primary influence in his own technique and style.^{[citation needed]} The group's sound is inspired by successful 1970s funk bands such as Earth, Wind & Fire and Sly & the Family Stone, another multicultural band composed of former members of the Church of God in Christ.^{[citation needed]} Randolph himself has explained that in his adolescent years before his discovery by the secular community, he was almost completely unaware of non-religious music, saying "I never heard of The Allman Brothers Band, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, none of them. I wasn’t into that music, only the church thing."

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

After the band's disbanding in 1995, Lesh continued the tradition of Grateful Dead family music with side project Phil Lesh and Friends, which paid homage to the Dead's music by playing their originals, common covers, and the songs of the members of his band. Phil & Friends helped keep a legitimate entity for the band's music to continue but have been on hiatus since 2008. Recently, Lesh has opened a music venue called Terrapin Crossroads, and has been performing with Furthur alongside former Grateful Dead bandmate Bob Weir.

Lesh started out as a violin player. In high school he switched to trumpet (A snippet of tape of Lesh on trumpet in college can be heard on "Born Cross-Eyed" from the Grateful Dead's 1968 release Anthem of the Sun.). Studying under Bob Hansen, he had a keen interest in avant-garde classical music and free jazz; he also studied under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio at Mills College (classmates included minimalist composer Steve Reich, and future Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten). While still a college student he met then-bluegrass banjo player Jerry Garcia. Despite antipodal musical interests, they formed a friendship and eventually Lesh was talked into becoming the bass guitarist for Garcia's new rock group, then known as the Warlocks. According to Lesh, the first song he rehearsed with the band was "I Know You Rider". He joined them for their third or fourth gig (memories vary) and stayed until the end. Lesh noticed that another group had made a record under the name Warlocks when he found their single on Columbia Records at a record store [Phil Lesh/Searching For The Sound, pg. 61]. That little-known band would later become The Velvet Underground.