Moby Grape founding member and solo artist Jerry Miller ‘dies suddenly’ at his Washington State home at 81

Jerry Miller, the guitarist and singer who co-founded the psychedelic rock band Moby Grape in the 1960s, has died at the age of 81.

A spokesperson for the band confirmed that the rocker passed away suddenly on Saturday, July 20. Peoplebut no official cause of death has been released.

One of his grandsons, Cody Miller, revealed that he died in his sleep, The New York Times reports, but that the case has still not been resolved.

His daughter, Jaaron Miller, has since posted a Facebook tribute to share her love for her father, writing: “Grateful to have been serenaded since birth by a love that words cannot express. My dad, Jerry Miller. We will truly miss you.”

Along with her heartbreaking words, she also shared a few photos of herself with her father during an outing where he spent time with his grandson.

Miller, who also performed as a solo artist and as a member of the Jerry Miller Band, grew up in Tacoma, Washington, and began performing in his teens on the live music scene of the Pacific Northwest, the era and scene in which Jimi Hendrix honed his musical skills.

“He was good, but somehow you didn’t think of him as the guy who was going to reinvent the electric guitar,” Miller told The Seattle Times in 2021 of Hendrix. “The main thing you heard at that time was that he was playing too loud. And so was I, I guess.”

Miller was a member of the Seattle rock band The Frantics and played on an early demo of Bobby Fuller’s 1966 classic I Fought The Law.

Eventually, he and Frantics members Bob Mosley and Don Stevenson moved to San Francisco and joined Peter Lewis and former Airplane member Skip Spence to form Moby Grape.

The band, which became a staple of San Francisco’s psychedelic music scene in the late 1960s, actually featured a rare mix of band members who all sang lead vocals and wrote songs.

They received critical and fan praise for their self-titled debut studio album (1967), which peaked at number 24 on the Billboard 200, earning them respect and attention from other Flower Power bands such as Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead. The album is now considered a classic.

In 2003, Rolling Stone Magazine placed it at number 124 on its original list of the 500 Greatest Rock Albums, describing it as “true hippie power pop.”

Miller was credited with writing or co-writing six of the album’s thirteen songs, including Hey Grandma and 8:05, two of the band’s better-known songs, and My Heart For The Judge.

Although he played in several bands, Miller is best known for his work in Moby Grape, a San Francisco-area band that seemed destined for fame during the Flower Power years.

Moby Grape’s eponymous studio album is considered a classic psychedelic rock record

“We could have had everything, but we ended up with virtually nothing,” Miller told The Seattle Times, referring to the band’s behind-the-scenes problems that led to Skip Spence and Bob Mosely leaving the band in 1969.

Their second album, Wow/Grape Jam (1968), was generally regarded as a critical and commercial disappointment, although it peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.

At one point it looked like Moby Grape would become a big and successful rock band, but unfortunately their early existence came to an end in 1969. This was partly due to the mental health problems of members Bob Mosley and Skip Spence, which led them to leave the band.

In addition, the band had been in a decades-long legal dispute with their former manager, Matthew Katz, who insisted on keeping the group’s name.

“We could have had everything, but we ended up with virtually nothing,” Miller said. The Seattle Times in 2021, citing the band’s behind-the-scenes problems, including Spence’s excessive use of LSD, which led to a mental breakdown.

New hopes were raised that things would turn around when original five members Miller, Don Stevenson and Peter Lewis joined Spence and Bob Mosley for the band’s fifth album, 20 Granite Creek (1971).

The guitarist and singer wore a loving gaze as he held one of his five grandchildren

The musician’s son, Joseph, changed his Facebook profile picture to one in more recent times showing him arm in arm with his father

In total they released seven studio albums, the last two in the 1980s, but their name will always carry with it a sense of untapped potential.

Although Spence died in 1999 at the age of 52, new versions of the band have continued to perform live in recent years.

After his death, son Joseph Miller changed his Facebook profile picture to a more recent photo of father and son standing arm in arm.

In addition to Jaaron and Joseph, Jerry Miller is survived by his two other adult children: son Dennis and daughter Colleen, and five grandchildren.