Over the 50 year span of the Grateful Dead’s history, there’s been a lot of recognition on the male movers and shakers who have left incredible marks on the band, the music, and the scene. Today, we’re here to shine some light on the most inspiring women who deserve appreciation and acknowledgement. Here’s 15 of the most influential women in the Grateful Dead’s history. That’s right, the women are smarter.

 

1. Donna Jean Godchaux

 

Donna Jean was a member of the Grateful Dead from 1972 to 1979. Prior to 1970, she had worked as a session singer in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. During her time in Muscle Shoals, she appeared on songs by Elvis Presley and Cher. Later, Jean introduced her husband Keith Godchaux to Jerry Garcia, and both would join the Grateful Dead in 1972. From 1976-1978, Donna and Keith would both perform as part of the Jerry Garcia Band. In 1994, Donna Jean was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead.

Watch Donna Jean discuss joining the Grateful Dead:

 

2. Candace Brightman

 

Candace Brightman is known as the legendary lighting designer for the Grateful Dead. She served as LD for the band from 1972 to 2004, including overseeing the famous Europe ‘72 tour. After launching her career in New York in the 1960s, Brightman started out lighting shows at Madison Square Garden, Fillmore East, and dozens of arenas up and down the east coast. With the Grateful Dead, she developed their shows into highly sophisticated visual spectacles, incorporating set design, and automated lighting and video technologies. While doing so, her advances in the field have secured her spot as an industry pioneer. Most recently in 2015, Brightman worked as LD for the "Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead" anniversary concerts.

Watch a clip of Candace lighting up the Grateful Dead's "Fare Thee Well" show at Soldier Field on July 3, 2015:

 

3. Mountain Girl

 

“Mountain Girl,” born Carolyn Adams, is a former Merry Prankster and wife of Jerry Garcia. Adams was born and raised in Poughkeepsie, New York, but traveled to Palo Alto, California in 1963 with her older brother. In early 1964, she met Neal Cassady, who introduced her to countercultural figure and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest author Ken Kesey. She quickly joined the inner circle of Pranksters and became romantically involved with Kesey, having a daughter together named Sunshine. The Grateful Dead song "Here Comes Sunshine" may or may not be about said daughter, Sunshine Kesey. Carolyn also married Jerry Garcia in 1981, staying together for more than a decade and having two daughters.

Watch a short clip of Ken Kesey and Mountain Girl from the mid 1960s:

 

4. Trixie Garcia

 

Trixie was born on September 21, 1974 and is the daughter to Jerry Garcia and Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Adams. Trixie now serves on the Board of Directors for The Rex Foundation. The Rex Foundation is an organization that provides grants to recipients who fall in line with its mission to support positive causes relating to arts, culture, education, and the environment.

Watch a video of Trixie Garcia christening our lobby bar as Garcia's in 2013:

 

5. Betty Cantor-Jackson

 

Betty Cantor was a pioneering studio engineer that worked on many influential Grateful Dead albums. Betty was still in her teens when she began setting up mics at San Francisco venues. First at the Avalon Ballroom, and then the Carousel, a venue that the Grateful Dead took a brief stab at managing in 1968. Betty worked alongside Bob Matthews, initially assisting with setups during the recording of the Grateful Dead’s Anthem of the Sun. A true pioneer, as a woman staking her claim in a patriarchal business, she partnered with Matthews into the early 1970s. Together they produced and engineered live multi-track recordings such as Live/Dead, as well as the studio albums Aoxomoxoa and Workingman’s Dead. Betty's recordings become known as the Betty Boards, and made their way into the collections of Deadheads everywhere.

Listen to a fantastic Betty Board here:

6. Rosie McGee

 

As Phil Lesh's girlfriend for four years, Rosie McGee was an early fan of the Grateful Dead, coming of age in Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco and later pursuing a career working in rock music in the Bay Area. Rosie became a key photographer for the Grateful Dead throughout their career and hosts a great online Grateful Dead photo gallery.

Watch an interview with Rosie McGee: [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBZfwtrgaxI&utm_source=20151124_blog&utm_medium=rosieMcGee&utm_campaign=video[/embed]

 

7. Sue Swanson

 

Sue Swanson was one of the Grateful Dead's first fans dating back to the Haight. As one of the core members of the Grateful Dead organization, she continues to help manage merchandise and projects for the band.

Read an article about Swanson.

 

8. Sara Ruppenthal

 

Sara Ruppenthal was Jerry's first wife, mother of his first daughter, and one of his earlier musical collaborators. Garcia and Ruppenthal met in 1963 when she was working at the coffee house in the back of Kepler's Bookstore. A place where Garcia frequently performed. Jerry and Sara would perform together in 1963 as a short-lived musical duo.

Listen to Sarah and Jerry live in 1963.

 

9. Jerilyn Lee Brandelius

Jerilyn Lee Brandelius was a photographer best known for compiling the Grateful Dead Family Album, publisheded in 1989. Brandelius' photographic archive includes rare images from the Grateful Dead's 1978 tour and Egypt. In 1989, Brandelius publisheded the book The Grateful Dead Family Album, a photographic music reference book with hundreds of intimate photographs and stories from members of the Grateful Dead and family. Most recently, Jerilyn uploaded the Grateful Dead Family album to a collaborative, digital form.

 

Check out the Grateful Dead Family Album online.

 

10. Toni Brown

 

Toni Brown was the publisheder, editorial director, and owner of Relix Magazine from 1980-2000. During her time, she helped the magazine through an identity crisis, while exposing a new generation to bands like the Grateful Dead, Phish, Blues Traveler, and Widespread Panic.

Read an interview with Toni Brown.

 

11. Frankie Weir

"Waits backstage while I sing to you." Frankie Weir is also known as the real life "Sugar Magnolia." Frankie is a very close friend to Bob Weir, moving in with him and adopting his last name, although not marrying.

Watch the Grateful Dead play "Sugar Magnolia" in 1973:

 

12. Jill Lesh

 

Jill is the wife of the Grateful Dead's founding member and bassist Phil Lesh. Jill continues to be involved in projects with her husband, such as the restaurant and venue Terrapin Crossroads. Jill and Phil also started The Unbroken Chain Foundation, in which Jill is very much involved.

Read an article about Phil and Jill Lesh.

 

13. Janis Joplin

 

Janis Joplin, also known as The Queen of Psychedelic Soul, was the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and a successful solo artist. She often partied and performed with the Grateful Dead, traveled with them during their Festival Express tour, and served as the inspiration for the song “Bird Song.”

Listen to Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead play "Turn on Your Love Light" in 1970:

 

14. Rhoney Stanley

Rhoney Stanley worked in the LSD labs of the 1960s with her partner, Owsley Stanley. Together, the two provided millions of hits to the counterculture. Rhoney is known for “fueling the Northern California psychedelic revolution of the sixties.”

Read more about Rhoney Stanley.

 

15. Carol Latvala

 

Carol Latvala helped run the Grateful Dead mail ticketing service, GDTS, and was the wife of archivist Dick Latvala. GDTS is an integral part of the Dead’s legacy, encouraging fans to decorate their letters and requests for tickets in hopes of being the first selected.

Check out GDTS TOO.