# One Year Ago Today, We Lost the Grateful Dead Singer Who Also Sang on No. 1 Hits by Elvis Presley and Percy Sledge

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/one-year-ago-today-we-lost-the-grateful-dead-singer-who-also-sang-on-no-1-hits-by-elvis-presley-and-percy-sledge/
- Published: 2026-11-02T23:20:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-03T00:49:28+00:00
- Original publisher: American Songwriter
- Original article: https://americansongwriter.com/one-year-ago-today-we-lost-the-grateful-dead-singer-who-also-sang-on-no-1-hits-by-elvis-presley-and-percy-sledge/

## Key points

- Donna Jean Godchaux died aged 78 in 2025.
- She sang on hits by Elvis Presley and Percy Sledge.
- She toured and recorded with the Grateful Dead from 1972 to 1979.

## Summary

Donna Jean Godchaux, a vocalist with the Grateful Dead and a former Muscle Shoals session singer, died in Nashville on 2 November 2025, aged 78, after a long battle with cancer. Her career connected two very different musical worlds: she sang on major recordings including Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” and Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman”, then toured and recorded with the Dead.

Godchaux joined the band in 1972 with her husband, keyboardist Keith Godchaux, and remained until 1979. She appeared on several albums, including *Wake of the Flood* and *Terrapin Station*, and performed with the group at the Great Pyramid in Egypt. After leaving, she continued making music with several bands; she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Grateful Dead in 1994 and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2016.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.