June Carter Cash
Musical Monikers
Madonna
Justin Bieber
My Ghost Story
I Survived
Babe Ruth
Johnny Cash
Georgia O'Keefe
I Survived
1 photo
Quick Facts
- NAME: Robert Hunter
- OCCUPATION: Musician
- BIRTH DATE: June 23, 1941 (Age: 71)
- PLACE OF BIRTH: San Luis Obispo, California
- AKA: Robert Hunter
- Full Name: Robert C. Hunter
- ZODIAC SIGN: Cancer
Best Known For
Robert Hunter is a writer and lyricist chiefly known for the songs he has written for the Grateful Dead.
Quiz
Think you know about Biography?
Answer questions and see how you rank against other players.
Play NowRobert Hunter. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 05:38, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/robert-hunter-20903767.
Robert Hunter. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/robert-hunter-20903767 [Accessed 23 May 2013].
"Robert Hunter." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 05:38 http://www.biography.com/people/robert-hunter-20903767.
"Robert Hunter," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/robert-hunter-20903767 [accessed May 23, 2013].
"Robert Hunter," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/robert-hunter-20903767 (accessed May 23, 2013).
Robert Hunter [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/robert-hunter-20903767.
Robert Hunter, http://www.biography.com/people/robert-hunter-20903767 (last visited May 23, 2013).
Robert Hunter. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/robert-hunter-20903767. Accessed May 23, 2013.
Synopsis
Robert Hunter met Jerry Garcia before he was 20 years old, and the two played in several bands together before the Grateful Dead was formed. Hunter joined the Dead in 1967 as essentially a behind-the-scenes band member, writing songs. He penned some of the most well-known Dead songs, such as "China Cat Sunflower," "Friend of the Devil" and "Truckin',
Contents
" which contains what might be the band's signature lyric: "What a long, strange trip it's been." After the Dead broke up in 1995, Hunter moved on to other projects, among them writing his own songs and poetry.
The Grateful Dead
Robert Hunter was born in San Luis Obispo, California, in 1941. He met Jerry Garcia in Palo Alto, California at the start of the 1960s, and the two began playing gigs at local establishments together as a bluegrass duo.
Although Hunter played bass and mandolin and sang vocals, he always considered himself a writer, and he would find his stride toward the end of the decade. A couple of years after meeting Garcia, Hunter volunteered to be a test subject in government experiments with LSD and later wrote songs while under the drug’s influence. One such song was the first he wrote for the Grateful Dead, "China Cat Sunflower/The Eleven."
In 1967, Hunter joined the band, chiefly as a lyricist, soon penning the classic "Dark Star." Hunter's songs and influence were so strong that over the years Jerry Garcia would refer to Hunter as the member of the band who never appeared on stage.
The songwriting collaboration between Garcia and Hunter thrived through the end of the 1960s and into the next decade, with such memorable songs as "Friend of the Devil," "Truckin'" (which contains the line that many consider emblematic of the band itself: "What a long, strange trip it's been"), "Ripple" and "Sugar Magnolia," all in 1970. He would also be responsible for the lyrics in the Dead's "comeback" song, 1987's "Touch of Grey," which would be the band's only commercial hit.
Later Years
After the Dead broke up in 1995, Hunter continued to write for other musicians, including former member of the band Mickey Hart, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Hornsby, while also writing songs as a solo artist. As a co-writer of the majority of Grateful dead songs, when the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, Hunter was inducted as well, the only nonperforming artist to receive such an honor. Robert Hunter has also published some of his own poetry and translated the poetic works of Rainer Maria Rilke.
© 2013 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.
profile name: Robert Hunter profile occupation:
Your Connections
Sign in with Facebook to see how you and your friends are connected to famous icons.
Profile Connections
Included In These Groups
-
Grateful Dead
View groupWith the 1960s came the psychedelic movement, a time when taking hallucinogenic drugs and listening to experimental music peaked within the countercultures of America and Great Britain. Among the movement's most famous musicians were the Grateful Dead, which mixed genres such as psychadelia, blues, folk, country, rock 'n' roll and jazz to create their incredibly unique rock sound. Known for changing set lists for each show, and for sometimes playing for more than four hours in one set, the Dead created songs like "Sugar Magnolia," "Casey Jones" and "Scarlet Begonias." While the group toured with various musicians until it disbanded in the late 1990s, its main members included Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart.
Grateful Dead 8 people in this group
-
Famous Cancerians 554 people in this group
-
Famous People Named Robert
View groupTake a look at famous people named Robert, such as Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, and Robert Edwin Peary.
Famous People Named Robert 95 people in this group
