In Memoriam: 2026 Deaths

2026 has seen the passing of several pillars of the musical community.

In January, founding member of the Grateful Dead Bob Weir passed away. Unbeknownst to most everyone but those closest to him, Weir had been diagnosed with cancer in July of 2025. A month after that, he appeared at the Dead’s 60th anniversary concert series in their hometown of San Francisco.

“I look forward to dying,” he told Rolling Stone that same year. “I tend to think of death as the last and best reward for a life well lived. That said, I’ve still got a lot on my plate and I won’t be ready to go for a while.”

Not long after Weir’s passing, a public memorial service was held in San Francisco, where his Dead & Company bandmate John Mayer performed “Ripple” and delivered a moving eulogy.

“Over the course of a decade, we came to trust each other,” Mayer said to the crowd. “He taught me, among many other things, to trust in the moment, and I’d like to think I taught him a little bit to rely on a plan, not as a substitute for the divine moments, but as a way to lure them in a little closer.”

Several iconic voices also left us, including Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night and Brad Arnold of Three Doors Down. Bassists, too, took a hit. Fred Smith of both Blondie and Television died in February, and before him, William “Billy Bass” Nelson of Funkadelic and Sly Dunbar, one half of the famous reggae rhythm section Sly and Robbie.