Book Bill Kreutzmann

Bill Kreutzmann is the founding drummer of the Grateful Dead, staying with the band from its first show to its last and earning induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the group in 1994 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. At the end of 1964 he co-founded the Warlocks alongside Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Pigpen McKernan and others, with Phil Lesh arriving soon after on bass, and the band played its first show on May 5, 1965, two days before his nineteenth birthday. That November the Warlocks became the Grateful Dead. In the fall of 1967 he met percussionist Mickey Hart, who soon joined, making the Dead a rare rock band with two drummers. Their interlocking playing became central to the band's sound and earned the pair the nickname the Rhythm Devils, a name supplied by Francis Ford Coppola. After the Grateful Dead ended in 1995, Kreutzmann continued to perform with former bandmates in various lineups, including Dead & Company, and led his own groups BK3, 7 Walkers and Billy & the Kids. In 2015 he published his memoir, Deal.