Overview
- She died on Nov. 2 at a Nashville hospice after a lengthy struggle with cancer, according to a family statement shared by representative Dennis McNally.
- The family called her “a sweet and warmly beautiful spirit” and requested privacy, closing with Robert Hunter’s line, “May the four winds blow her safely home.”
- She performed with the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979, appearing on Europe ’72, Wake of the Flood and Terrapin Station and on celebrated live dates including Cornell ’77 and the 1978 Egypt shows.
- Before joining the band, she was an in-demand Muscle Shoals vocalist on No. 1 hits including Percy Sledge’s When a Man Loves a Woman and Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds.
- She later led the Heart of Gold Band and her own groups, released a final studio album in 2014 and a 2021 single, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and is survived by husband David MacKay and sons Kinsman and Zion.