Jerry Garcia 1972

Jerry Garcia 1972, hand-drawn portrait of Garcia performing at Roosevelt Stadium on July 18, 1972 with the Grateful Dead, Jersey City, NJ playing his 1957 “Alligator” Fender Stratocaster.

The guitar was a gift in return for Jerry Garcia’s service on Graham Nash’s album “Songs For Beginners”; Nash presented the Garcia with a 1957 Stratocaster that he purchased in 1970 for $250 in a Phoenix pawn shop.

The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California in 1965.
Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music with psychedelia, the band is famous for improvisation during their live performances, and for their devoted fan base, known as “Deadheads”.

Garcia’s physical and mental condition continued to decline throughout 1993 and 1994.
He began to use narcotics again to dull the pain. In light of his second drug relapse and current condition, Garcia checked himself into the Betty Ford Center during July 1995. His stay was limited, lasting only two weeks.

Motivated by the experience, he then checked into the Serenity Knolls treatment center in Forest Knolls, California, where he died in his room at the rehabilitation clinic on August 9, 1995.

The cause of death was a heart attack. He was 53.

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