‘UNITED IN LOSS’

‘Grateful Dead’ Singer Has Died at 78

Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay was a key singer in the band.

Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, who sang with the rock band the Grateful Dead during the 1970s, died on Sunday after a battle with cancer. “She was a sweet and warmly beautiful spirit, and all those who knew her are united in loss,” read a statement about the 78-year-old shared with Rolling Stone. The singer joined the Grateful Dead in 1971 alongside her late husband and pianist, Keith Godchaux. During their tenure in the band, the couple became key members and were featured on albums such as Europe ’72 and Wake of the Flood. They also released their own album, Keith & Donna, in 1975. The two left the band in 1979, and Keith died a year later in a car accident. Shortly after his passing, Godchaux-MacKay married David MacKay in 1981, who she is survived by, along with her sons, Kinsman MacKay and Zion Godchaux, and her grandson, Delta. “You can’t make up for what isn’t there anymore, but you can continue on a journey that takes you somewhere,” Godchaux-MacKay told Rolling Stone in 2014 about her song Back Around, which detailed her coming to terms with her past. She died surrounded by her family at Alive Hospice in Nashville.