Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick dead
Vince Welnick, the keyboardist for the Tubes who also held that position with the Grateful Dead, died on Friday (June 2nd) at the age of 55. An autopsy was likely to take place on June 5th or 6th, but the San Jose, California, Mercury News quoted the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department as saying it was a suicide. An injured Welnick was taken from his home in Forestville, California, to a local hospital, where he died. He is survived by his wife Lori. Funeral and memorial arrangements haven't been made public yet.
A statement was posted to the official dead.net website which read, in part, "(Welnick's) service to and love for the Grateful Dead were heart-felt and essential. He had a loving soul and a joy in music that we were lucky to share... Our Grateful Dead prayer for the repose of his spirit: 'May the four winds blow him safely home.'"
The keyboard player joined the Grateful Dead at the invitation of singer-guitarist Jerry Garcia, with whom he was especially close. Garcia's death in 1995 hit Welnick particularly hard, and he descended into a sever depression afterwards, which was compounded by his own battle against cancer and emphysema. Former Dead spokesman Dennis McNally told the Associated Press, "When (Welnick) joined the Grateful Dead he really embraced the opportunity, both musically and emotionally. And to lose it within five years hurt him maybe worse than anybody else in the band."
Drummer Mickey Hart said, "The big thing about Vince was that he had that fearlessness to be able to go and just jump into our madness and just operate on it like it was a normal, everyday procedure. A lot of people can play, but with us they just don't know how to navigate. Our music is different."
Welnick was the fourth man to play keyboards in the Grateful Dead. He got the job after Brent Mydland died from a drug overdose in 1990. Original member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan died in 1973 from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage, which was brought on by years of heavy drinking. His replacement was Keith Godchaux, who died in 1980 in a car accident.
A statement was posted to the official dead.net website which read, in part, "(Welnick's) service to and love for the Grateful Dead were heart-felt and essential. He had a loving soul and a joy in music that we were lucky to share... Our Grateful Dead prayer for the repose of his spirit: 'May the four winds blow him safely home.'"
The keyboard player joined the Grateful Dead at the invitation of singer-guitarist Jerry Garcia, with whom he was especially close. Garcia's death in 1995 hit Welnick particularly hard, and he descended into a sever depression afterwards, which was compounded by his own battle against cancer and emphysema. Former Dead spokesman Dennis McNally told the Associated Press, "When (Welnick) joined the Grateful Dead he really embraced the opportunity, both musically and emotionally. And to lose it within five years hurt him maybe worse than anybody else in the band."
Drummer Mickey Hart said, "The big thing about Vince was that he had that fearlessness to be able to go and just jump into our madness and just operate on it like it was a normal, everyday procedure. A lot of people can play, but with us they just don't know how to navigate. Our music is different."
Welnick was the fourth man to play keyboards in the Grateful Dead. He got the job after Brent Mydland died from a drug overdose in 1990. Original member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan died in 1973 from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage, which was brought on by years of heavy drinking. His replacement was Keith Godchaux, who died in 1980 in a car accident.
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