Grateful Dead Singer Donna Jean Godchaux Dead at 78

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The vocalist spent the Seventies with the legendary group, and also sang backup on hits by Elvis Presley and Percy Sledge

Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, who spent the Seventies singing with the Grateful Dead, sang back-up on several classic Sixties hits, and fronted her own bands, has died. She was 78.

Godchaux died Sunday, Nov. 2, at a hospice facility in Nashville after a “lengthy struggle with cancer,” according to a statement shared with Rolling Stone. “She was a sweet and warmly beautiful spirit, and all those who knew her are united in loss. The family requests privacy at this time of grieving,” the statement continued. “In the words of Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, ‘May the four winds blow her safely home.’”

Godchaux joined the Grateful Dead in 1971 alongside her husband, Keith, who played keyboards. Her vocals were a key feature of the Dead’s seminal run during

the Seventies, appearing on such classic albums as Europe ’72, Wake of the Flood, and Terrapin Station, not to mention countless legendary live recordings (including the famed Cornell ’77 gig and the Dead’s September 1978 shows at the Giza pyramid in Egypt).

Prior to joining the Dead, Godcheaux was working as an in-demand session singer in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. She contributed to hits like Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” and Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds,” while also singing on songs by Duane Allman, Cher, Neil Diamond, and Boz Scaggs.