We could simply say that Phil Lesh was the one and only bassist for the Grateful Dead and leave it at that. Is there more that you need to know?
He was born in Berkeley, California and his first instrument was the violin. In high school he switched to the trumpet. He eventually met Jerry Garcia and they became friends. Five years later, Jerry asked Phil to join the Warlocks and play bass.
Since no one had instructed him on how to play the bass, he developed his own style based on his musical preferences such as classical music and jazz.
His contributions to the band were limited vocally and he composed few songs, but his musicianship was always an integral part of any Dead show.
Because of technical issues, the Dead’s contribution to the lore of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was more symbolic than actual. They felt their performance was sub-par and so that has become the description. Having said that, the show was not terrible in any sense. The Dead simply didn’t have the chance to fly that night.
Phil Lesh discussed his early influences and more in the following video.
In 1994, he was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead.
In 1995, after Jerry Garcia died, the Grateful Dead stopped as a band, but each of the members continued to play music. Sometimes together, sometimes as solo artists.
Dead Bassist Phil Lesh
Phil Lesh non-stop
Phil Lesh played with The Other Ones and The Dead, as well as his own band collection, Phil Lesh and Friends. In 1999, he co-headlined a tour with Bob Dylan. Check the link below to see all of his credits since 1995.
In the spring of 1997, Phil and friends launched the Unbroken Chain Foundation, “a nonprofit organization which seeks to perpetuate the long-standing tradition of community service that has been the hallmark of the remarkable three-decade relationship between the Grateful Dead and its audience.”
photo from the Terrapin Crossroads site
In 2012, Lesh founded a music venue called Terrapin Crossroads, in San Rafael, California. The venue officially opened on March 17, of that year.
Dead Bassist Phil Lesh
Lifer
To say Phil was a lifer is an understatement. He continued to play regularly until his death in 2024.
Obit
The opening of NPR’s obituary began: “Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of countercultural rock band The Grateful Dead, has died. He was 84 years old. “
It continued: ““On a day-to-day basis, the psychic pivot to the Dead is Phil Lesh, the most aggressive purist, the anti-philistine Artist,” wrote Grateful Dead biographer Dennis McNally in his 2002 book A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead.“It is he who most often and most loudly demands that they dance as closely as possible to the edge of the nearest available precipice. Intellectual, kinetic, intense, he was once nicknamed Reddy Kilowatt in recognition of his high mental and physical velocity.”
Sylvester “Sly Stone” Stewart was born on March 15, 1943, in Denton, Texas, and raised primarily in Vallejo, California. He sang with his family’s gospel group. As a teenager he sang doo wop.
Around 1964, he started as a disc jockey at R & B radio station KSOL. He became known for mixing white artists into the station’s soul music format.
At the same time, Stone began producing for the San Francisco-based label, Autumn Records. One of the hits Stone produced was Bobby Freeman‘s “C’on an Swim.”
Of course it was the formation of his own band 1966, Sly & the Stoners which later merged with his brother Freddie’s band to become Sly and the Family Stone. The band consisted of bassist Larry Graham, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, saxophonist Jerry Martini, and drummer Greg Errico,
In October 1967, they released their first album, “A Whole New Thing.”
It was their resoundingly successful performance at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair as well as that performance’s inclusion in the following year’s movie and album that brought stardom. Here’s the lesser known song “Love City” from that amazing performance.
Sylvester Stewart Sly Stone
Sly Stone
That success also brought the availability of a lifestyle that offered as many dangers as it did comforts and Sly Stone in particular indulged in the former.
Sly and the Family Stone were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
He became homeless for awhile, but in 2015 a Los Angeles Supreme Court jury awarded him $5 million after it found that Gerald “Jerry” Goldstein and Glenn Stone, his former manager and an entertainment lawyer, had cheated Stone out of over a decade’s worth of royalties.
But in 2016, the appellate court said the trial judge erred when it did not treat the assignment of royalties from Stone — legally Sylvester Stewart — to his deceased former manager Ken Roberts as a proven.
In July 2016, a California appeals court granted Stone’s former manager a new trial. (Law360 article)
Sylvester Stewart Sly Stone
Films
On the Sly: In Search of the Family Stone
On the Sly: In Search of the Family Stone is a documentary about Sly Stone, his absence from the music scene, and one man’s quest to find out what happened to the artist. It is directed by Michael Rubenstone. [Wikipedia]
Dance to the Streaming Music
From a 2018 Deadline Hollywood dot com article: A feature documentary about Sly and The Family Stone and their impact on the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music is on its way. Dance to the Streaming Music, from Winter State Entertainment, will include exclusive interviews and footage of Sly and the Family Stone and other artists – and their reversal of fortune in the wake the Music Modernization Act.
While the project hoped for a 2019 release, it hasn’t happened as of 2023.
Per a release, the as-yet-untitled project will follow “the story of the influential artist, king of funk, and fashion icon Sly Stone, a musician who was breaking all the rules at a time when doing so was extremely challenging, even dangerous. The pressure of explosive mainstream pop success and the responsibility of representing Black America forced him to walk the fine line of impossible expectations.”
In a statement, Questlove said: “It goes beyond saying that Sly’s creative legacy is in my DNA… it’s a black musician’s blueprint… to be given the honor to explore his history and legacy is beyond a dream for me.” [2023 DEADLINE article]
2023
Before the movie, came his autobiography: ‘Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)’
Slate magazine’s review said of it, “Sly Stone, now 80 years old, has just published a memoir…. The first thing that must be said about Thank You is that it is a miracle that it exists at all. For decades Sly has been one of music’s greatest ghost stories, a man who had descended into a nightmarish spiral of drug abuse and effectively withdrawn from public life. From the 1980s on, pretty much every time that Sly was in the news, it was for something terrible: arrests for cocaine and gun possession, harrowing motorcycle accidents, and money troubles that reportedly left him homeless. There were a series of failed comeback attempts before he stopped even really attempting; public appearances were vanishingly rare, and tended to range from discombobulated to deeply disturbing.”
Harvey Mandel’s participation at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was accidental. Playing at the Fillmore West, Canned Heat’s guitarist Henry Vestine suddenly left the group. Canned Heat asked Mandel to sit in for one half and Mike Bloomfield the other half (not bad replacements!).
Afterwards, the Heat offered Mandel the guitar spot. He accepted and before he knew it he was on his was on his way to Bethel, NY.
Can’t see him a whole lot, but here’s a piece of the Snake from Woodstock.
Harvey Snake Mandel
Detroit
Harvey Mandel was born in Detroit, raised in Chicago, and in 1966 played on his first album, Charlie Musselwhite‘s Stand Back! Here Comes Charley Musselwhite’s Southside Band.
He moved to San Francisco and began sitting in at the Matrix. His abilities were immediately noticed and in 1968 he released his first album, Christo Redentor, which contained his classic “Wade In the Water” (written by James W. Alexander & Sam Cooke).
He continued to release solo albums and in 2009 he reunited with Canned Heat’s Larry Taylor and Fito de la Parra to perform certain shows on the Canned Heat tour.
As thebio at his site concludes, “Harvey Mandel, “The King Of Sustain”, has been cited as a major influence by many of today’s music superstars. The critics call him “an unsung hero,” “a hugely influential but almost forgotten giant of instrumental rock” and “the best known unknown in pop guitar.” As roots music has gained prominence through the 90’s, purists such as Mandel have had the opportunity to forge a path of musical integrity and expose new audiences to the original Harvey Mandel sound!”
Here’s another, the full, version of “Wade in the Water” that you heard at the top of this entry. It is from Lucille’s Restaurant’ on April 17, 2013.
In December 2015, Rolling Stone magazine released its list of the top 100 guitarists. Mandel’s name was notably absent.
“It’s such B.S.,” he said, adding that “it’s kind of irritating” to see names on the list of players “that really suck.”
“I don’t claim to be No. 1 in the world, but I’m definitely in the top 30 of all time,” Mandel said. “I was doing this stuff before these guys knew what was going on.”
In March 2017, Mandel was a guest on the NPR show World Cafe with David Dye. Give the show a listen.
In 2019 he played in a show of with with the Unauthorized Rolling Stones. The reason for that band? When Mick Taylor quit the Stones, Mandel figured he’d be a good enough replacement. After all, he’d participated on their 1976 Black and Blue LP. Listen to him on “Hot Stuff.”
However, Ronnie Wood, an old friend of the Stones’ Keith Richards, snagged the job and has it still.
Looking back Mandel say, “I got aced by a C-minus guitar player.”
Health
In 2011 he was diagnosed with nose cancer. He needed around 35 surgeries to pull him out of it.
At the time he said: “I could go a year and not play and get up and play good,” he said. “It’s just like being an athlete. But I wouldn’t be in shape. My fingers wouldn’t be as limber. I have to play a little bit every day.”
He added about drug use: “I’m still here. I don’t drink or sniff coke. I have been a weed smoker for 55 years. That’s why I’m still here and in good shape.”
In a 2019 interview, Mandel said “My health is pretty good at the moment,” Mandel said. “I’ve had an eye problem, but nothing major. The cancer is totally in remission” but it did return by 2021.
A July 2022 Facebook post read: Harvey’s MRI …showed improvements, that the cancer is under control, and the infection that nearly killed him, is gone. So today his PICC will be removed from his chest and he can now start nasal reconstruction. Nasal reconstruction is a very complex surgery performed by an otolaryngologist in conjunction with a plastic surgeon. Recovery from nasal reconstruction, involving complex procedures and multiple surgeries, may take several months.
Unfortunately, there is more that Harvey must endure. The chemo and radiation he needed to kick the cancer ruined his teeth, so he also needs dental implants and a number of dental surgeries. And Harvey also needs new glasses and has an appointment with his optometrist Friday.
With all this medical mess, Harvey has an upbeat attitude. And he has a new album coming out in about a month, something Harvey is looking forward to! He is totally blown away from all the support he’s received and hopes it will continue until he reaches his goal.
Mandel had to go nearly three years without performing because of his health, but he said it wouldn’t take long to dust off the rust.
2023 Update
From his FB page: In our last Harvey update 8/2102023 I mentioned that Harvey is working on a new song chronicling his nearly fatal health issues and fighting back from the jaws of death on multiple occasions. Harvey’s long-time producer and former bass player Timm Martin, is tracking bass and drums this weekend in a studio in Chicago. The Snake, well known for his virtuoso instrumental tracks is going to have vocals on this song where the lyrics will be reflective of his struggles fighting a disease that has touched almost everyone’s lives in one way or another. Harvey will be finishing the tracks in his home studio and will be the first recording he has done in two years.
Given all the medical expenses Harvey is still incurring, and still paying back, he’s hardly in position to finance the production. We figured we’d need a budget of about $3,300 and hope that you can help us raise the cash using our “Help Harvey Mandel Kick Cancer GoFundMe page.
Here’s a list of what we need:
All in Producer (Production/Sound Engineering/Mixing); Songwriter; Vocalist; Session Musicians; Studio Time and Engineer for overdubs, Mastering; a limited run CD pressing (250 CDs pressed with two pocket eco packaging); Album art design; and Digital distribution.
Harvey is hoping this song will be the start of a new record – his comeback recording. He’s told me he has most of it in his head. He’s had a few years to dream it up, and now he can actually start work and get back to doing what he loves most: playing guitar.
Is it okay to increase our GoFundMe goal, adding the $3,300 to make the new goal $38,300. Reply here and let me know, it’ll be good to hear from you!
