Grateful Dead now 'Dead'

The band is to perform a tour this summer

The surviving members of cult sixties band The Grateful Dead, after a short spell as The Other Ones, are to revert to the name The Dead.

The band largely retired from performing after Garcia's death

The band, who epitomised the 1960s California hippy scene, had renamed themselves The Other Ones following the death of founder and leader Jerry Garcia in 1995 in a drug rehabilitation clinic, in honour of his memory.

Their followers have long nicknamed them The Dead, and are themselves known as Deadheads.

The band had also retired from performing following Garcia's death, although they occasionally performed tribute concerts, including a successful tour last autumn.

But a statement on the band's website said that although they no longer considered themselves the Grateful Dead without Garcia, nor were they The Other Ones, instead being "on our way to becoming something new but at the same time very familiar".

"With the greatest possible respect to our collective history, we have decided to keep the name 'Grateful Dead' retired in honour of Jerry's memory, and call ourselves 'The Dead,'" it said.

Dedicated following

The band are due to perform a Valentine's Day benefit concert and will also conduct a full summer tour this year, a spokesman said.

The Grateful Dead have one of the most dedicated followings of the psychedelic rock scene built up around their music and live shows.

Coming out of the San Francisco music scene of the 1960s, despite their massive live following they notched up only one top 10 hit in the US with Touch of Grey in 1987.

And only six of their 28 albums reached higher than number 25 in the US Billboard music charts.

But sales of Grateful Dead memorabilia and concerts by former band members still net about $70m (£47.8m) a year.