Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, Grateful Dead singer, dies aged 78

"Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, a soulful mezzo-soprano who provided backing vocals on such 1960s classics as Suspicious Minds and When a Man Loves a Woman and was a featured singer with the Grateful Dead for much of the 1970s, has died aged 78. A spokesperson for Godchaux-MacKay confirmed that she died of cancer on Sunday at Alive hospice in Nashville. Godchaux-MacKay and other Grateful Dead members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994."

"Born Donna Jean Thatcher in Florence, Alabama, she had yet to turn 20 when she became a session performer in nearby Muscle Shoals, where many soul and rhythm and blues hits were recorded, and also was on hand for numerous sessions at the Memphis-based American Sound Studio. Her credits included Elvis Presley's Suspicious Minds, Percy Sledge's When a Man Loves a Woman and songs with Neil Diamond, Boz Scaggs and Cher."

Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay was born Donna Jean Thatcher in Florence, Alabama, and became a session singer before age 20 in Muscle Shoals and at American Sound Studio in Memphis. She provided backing vocals on hits including Elvis Presley’s "Suspicious Minds" and Percy Sledge’s "When a Man Loves a Woman" and recorded with Neil Diamond, Boz Scaggs and Cher. In the early 1970s she and husband Keith Godchaux joined the Grateful Dead, appearing on albums such as Terrapin Station, Shakedown Street and From the Mars Hotel. She sang on songs like "Scarlet Begonias," wrote and led "From the Heart of Me," and left the band with Keith in 1979. Keith Godchaux died in 1980. Donna Jean married bassist David MacKay in 1981, continued to record and tour, and released albums including Back Around and Donna Jean and the Tricksters. She died of cancer at Alive hospice in Nashville at age 78 and is survived by husband David MacKay, sons Kinsman MacKay and Zion Godchaux, and siblings Gogi Clark and Ivan Thatcher.

Read at www.theguardian.com