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Vince Welnick, the last keyboard player for the Greatful Dead, has died according to the Dead's publicist. He was 51 when he died on Friday.
Welnick was the last in a long line of Grateful Dead keyboardists, a number of whom died prematurely, leading some of the group's fans to conclude that the position came with a curse.
Welnick had replaced Brent Mydland, who died of a drug overdose in 1990. Mydland succeeded Keith Godchaux, who died in a car crash shortly after leaving the band. And Godchaux had replaced the band's original keyboard player, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, who died at 27 in 1973.
The group said on its Web site "His service to and love for the Grateful Dead were heartfelt and essential. He had a loving soul and a joy in music that we were lucky to share, our Grateful Dead prayer for the repose of his spirit: May the four winds blow him safely home."
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