Rock singer dies at 78: ‘A warmly beautiful spirit’

Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, a former singer for The Grateful Dead throughout the 1970s, has died. She was 78.

Godchaux died Sunday at a hospice facility in Nashville following a “lengthy struggle with cancer,” her representative, Dennis McNally, told Rolling Stone .

“She was a sweet and warmly beautiful spirit, and all those who knew her are united in loss,” he said. “The family requests privacy at this time of grieving. In the words of Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, ‘May the four winds blow her safely home.’”

Born Aug. 22, 1947, in Florence, Alabama, Godchaux joined The Grateful Dead in 1971 alongside her husband, Keith, a keyboard player. The couple toured and appeared on a number of Grateful Dead albums throughout the 1970s, including “Europe ’72,” “Wake of the Flood,” “From The Mars