Jerry Miller, Moby Grape co-founder and guitarist and one of the most influential guitarists in San Francisco's ’60s music scene, died Sunday at age 81 in Tacoma, Washington. His grandson, Cody, after reporter Eric Brenner first broke the news on the Moby Grape Facebook fan page. No immediate cause of death was given.
“Sadly, Jerry Miller passed away last night,” said the post. “Jo [Johnson, Miller's partner] and the family are asking for everyone to please give them some privacy and respect, and Jo asked that people cease phone calls for the time being. Thank you.
” Members of the group then shared messages from Johnson, who encouraged fans to “flood the Ether with Jerry Miller’s music” and to “play it all day long for me and him”. Miller was born in Tacoma in 1943 and honed his skills in the same Pacific Northwest music scene as Jimi Hendrix, who was also his friend since his teenage years. In the late 1950s, he was playing and recording with Northwest dance-rock bands like The Frantics, even recording an early version of I Fought the Law by The Bobby Fuller Four.
By 1966, Miller was living in San Francisco. Together with his Frantics bandmate Don Stevenson, he formed the nucleus of what would later become Moby Grape, with the addition of bassist Bob Mosley. The Grape formed part of San Fran's thriving psych music scene, fusing elements of rock, blues, pop, folk, and country.
The band broke up in 1969. During their tenure, they toured the US and Europe, r.