Ron McKernan

Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 – March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American musician.

Ronald Charles McKernan was born on September 8, 1945, in San Bruno, California.

He came from Irish ancestry, and his father, Phil McKernan, was an R&B and blues disc jockey, who has been reported to have been one of the first white DJs on KDIA (later renamed KMKY), then a black radio station, by several sources.

Other sources place him at Berkeley station, KRE (later renamed KBLX-FM).

Ronald grew up with African American friends and enjoyed black music and culture.

As a youth, he taught himself blues piano, guitar and harmonica and developed a biker culture image.

McKernan moved to Palo Alto, California, with his family, where he became friends with musician Jerry Garcia at the age of 14.

He built up a substantial collection of old blues 78s from labels such as Kent and Chess.

McKernan began spending time around coffeehouses and music stores, and worked at Dana Morgan's Music Store in Palo Alto with Garcia.

One night Garcia invited McKernan on stage to play harmonica and sing the blues.

Garcia was impressed and McKernan became the blues singer in local jam sessions.

He was initially nicknamed "Blue Ron" before settling on "Pigpen".

Onomastician Adrian Room has suggested McKernan was given the name due to his untidy and unclean habits and band biographies say he got the nickname owing to his similarity to Pig-Pen, the permanently-dirty character in the comic-strip Peanuts.

Along with Garcia and second guitarist Bob Weir, McKernan was a participant in the predecessor groups leading to the formation of the Grateful Dead, beginning with the Zodiacs and Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions.

Drummer Bill Kreutzmann was added and the band evolved into the Warlocks.

He was a founding member of the San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972.

McKernan grew up heavily influenced by African-American music, particularly the blues, and enjoyed listening to his father's collection of records and taught himself how to play harmonica and piano.

He began socializing around the San Francisco Bay Area, becoming friends with Jerry Garcia.

After the pair had played in various folk and jug bands, McKernan suggested they form an electric group, which became the Grateful Dead.

He was the band's original frontman and played harmonica and electric organ, but Garcia and bassist Phil Lesh's influences on the band became increasingly stronger as they embraced psychedelic rock.

Around 1965, McKernan urged the rest of the Warlocks to switch to electric instruments.

Bassist Phil Lesh joined soon after, and they became the Grateful Dead.

The group were keen to involve McKernan in the band, as he was the group's original leader and was considered the best singer and frontman.

The Dead's early sets centered around blues and R&B songs chosen by McKernan.

By the end of 1966, Garcia had improved his musical skills, changing the band's direction and reducing McKernan's contributions.

In 1967, drummer Mickey Hart joined the Grateful Dead, followed by classically trained keyboardist Tom Constanten in 1968, further changing the group's style.

Constanten often replaced McKernan on keyboards in the studio, as McKernan found it difficult to adapt to the new material that Garcia and Lesh composed for the band.

McKernan struggled to keep up with the changing music, causing the group to hire keyboardist Tom Constanten, with McKernan's contributions essentially limited to vocals, harmonica, and percussion from November 1968 to January 1970.

He continued to be a frontman in concert for some numbers, including his interpretations of Bobby Bland's "Turn On Your Love Light" and the Rascals' "Good Lovin'.

Unlike the other members of the Grateful Dead, McKernan avoided psychedelic drugs, preferring to drink alcohol (namely whiskey and flavored fortified wine).

In October 1968, McKernan and Weir were nearly fired from the band after Garcia and Lesh believed their playing was holding the band back from lengthy and experimental jamming.

Garcia delegated the task of firing them to Rock Scully, who said that McKernan "took it hard."

Weir promised to improve, but McKernan was more stubborn.

According to Garcia biographer Blair Jackson, McKernan missed three Dead shows before vowing not to "be lazy" any more and rejoining, while Kreutzmann objected to replacing McKernan and said the event never happened.

Following his discharge from the United States Air Force in November 1968, Constanten officially joined the band, having only worked in the studio while on leave up to that point.

Road manager Jon McIntire commented that "Pigpen was relegated to the congas at that point and it was really humiliating and he was really hurt, but he couldn't show it, couldn't talk about it."

He began to take Hammond organ lessons and learned how to use the various drawbars and controls.

By 1971, his health had been affected by alcoholism and liver damage and doctors advised him to stop touring.

Following a hiatus, he resumed touring with the group in December 1971 but was forced to retire from touring altogether in June 1972.

McKernan was found dead of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage on March 8, 1973, aged 27, and is buried at Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto.