Jerry Garcia

Jerry Garcia married Sara Ruppenthal Garcia in 1963 and had one daughter. He became involved with another woman, Carolyn Adams, while still married to Sara leading to their divorce in 1967.

Carolyn gave birth to two daughters in the 1970s. Garcia married Carolyn in 1981. He started a relationship with Deborah Koons while he was still involved with Carolyn.

Garcia and Carolyn Adams officially divorced in 1994 and he married Deborah Koons.

He was born as Jerome John Garcia on August 1, 1942, to Jose Ramon "Joe" Garcia and Ruth Marie "Bobbie" in San Francisco, California. His parents were big fans of music and they named him after the composer Jerome Kern. He had one elder brother.

He loved music from a young age and was encouraged by his music-loving parents to pursue his passion.

Tragedy struck the Garcia household in 1947 when his father drowned while on a fishing trip. His mother started working to support the family and Jerry and his brother were sent to live with their grandparents. His mother eventually remarried.

He attended the Monroe Elementary School where his artistic abilities became apparent. As he grew up, he became interested in rock and roll and rhythm and blues and was inspired by the likes of Ray Charles, John Lee Hooker, B. B. King, Hank Ballard, and Chuck Berry.

As a student, he attended several schools including Menlo Oaks School, Balboa High School, and the Analy High School. He was a trouble-maker as a teenager and was notorious for skipping classes and fighting with fellow students.

Jerry Garcia decided to take his life seriously and started playing the guitar in earnest. He played with several bands over the next couple of years and also started teaching acoustic guitar and banjo. During this time he became acquainted with some other aspiring musicians and decided to form his own band.

Along with Bob Weir, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzmann, he founded the rock band, The Grateful Dead, in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band had many musical influences and made extensive use of improvisation, and is considered one of the originators of jam band music.

The band’s first two albums ‘The Grateful Dead’ (1967) and ‘Anthem of the Sun’ (1968) were moderate successes though it was their third album, ‘Aoxomoxoa’ (1969) that established them as a popular rock group. The band also used to tour a lot and play live concerts.

Over the 1970s the band became increasingly popular due to its eclectic and unique music. In addition to his career with The Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia also started taking up side projects and released his solo albums ‘Garcia’ (1972), ‘Compliments’ (1974), and ‘Reflections’ (1976).

He founded another band, The Jerry Garcia Band, in the mid-1970s. It was one of his most important side-projects and had the bassist John Kahn and keyboardist Melvin Seals. This band too played rock music infused with elements of blues, folk, country, and jazz.

Jerry Garcia is best remembered as one of the co-founders of the rock band, The Grateful Dead. The band was very popular for their live performances and improvisational style, and were ranked 57th in the issue The Greatest Artists of all Time by ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine. The Grateful Dead have sold more than 35 million albums worldwide.