The Grateful Dead’s Keyboard Chair Was Designed to Kill
The bizarre and deadly history behind the Grateful Dead’s infamous keyboard chair — an unlikely piece of band lore that nearly cost someone their life.
Vince Welnick
Vince Welnick (1951–2006) was the Grateful Dead’s final keyboardist, joining in 1990 after Brent Mydland’s death and playing with the band until their final show in 1995. Previously the keyboardist for The Tubes, Welnick struggled to find his place in the Dead’s improvising culture. After the band’s dissolution, he was left out of most of the Dead’s post-Garcia reunions — a slight that contributed to his 2006 suicide. Articles cover his brief Dead tenure and his tragic post-Dead isolation.