Bill Kreutzmann (born May 7, 1946 in Palo Alto, California) started playing drums at the age of 13. In 1965 he formed the band Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, along with Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Ron Pigpen McKernan. Through the addition of Mickey Hart, the Jug Champions eventually evolved into the Warlocks, a precursor to the The Grateful Dead. Kreutzmann remained with The Grateful Dead until the passing of Garcia in 1995.

Following the end of the Grateful Dead, Kreutzmann returned to his home in Hawaii but, by 2000 was back on the road with The Other Ones (Weir, Hart, Bruce Hornsby, Steve Kimock, Mark Karan , and Alphonso Johnson ). The Other Ones were so successful that, in 2003 the band began touring as The Dead (keeping Grateful retired out of respect for Garcia).

Kreutzmann also does work as a visual artist and, in 2001, began releasing limited edition reporductions of his digital artwork.

See also: Grateful Dead, The Other Ones

External links

• ocean-spirit.net http://www.ocean-spirit.net/
• Grateful Dead http://www.dead.net/