Donna Jean Godchaux, a member of the legendary rock band Grateful Dead in the 1970s, has passed away at the age of 78.
As a backing singer, Godchaux also appeared on a number of classic hits, including Elvis Presley's Suspicious Minds and Percy Sledge's When A Man Loves a Woman.
The singer took her last breath on Sunday, November 2, at a hospice facility in Nashville following a "lengthy struggle with cancer", as per Rolling Stone reports.
Sharing the emotional news, her rep, Dennis McNally, noted, "She was a sweet and warmly beautiful spirit, and all those who knew her are united in loss. The family requests privacy at this time of grieving."
The statement continued, "In the words of Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, 'May the four winds blow her safely home.'"
Godchaux joined the Grateful Dead in 1971 alongside her husband, Keith, who played keyboards.
Her vocals were a key feature of the Dead's seminal run during the Seventies, appearing on such classic albums as Europe '72, Wake of the Flood, and Terrapin Station.
Godchaux and Keith also released an album together in 1975 and were set to start a new band in the early eighties before Keith's sudden death.
Later, the rockstar would front her own group, alternately known as Donna Jean and the Tricksters and the Donna Jean Godchaux Band. Her last studio album, with musician Jeff Mattson, was released in 2014.
While the Dead were one of the most creatively formidable groups of the Seventies, they had their fair share of the timely problems.
Godchaux's relationship with Keith was far from perfect, as she was regularly drinking and using cocaine; Keith was also using drugs, and members of the Dead's crew recalled hearing frequent screaming matches between the couple.
The pair left the Grateful Dead in 1979; recalling the farewell, she noted, "It was sad, but it was what needed to happen. It was turning into being not profitable for anybody. We needed to go, and they needed for us to go."
