Grateful Dead rhythm guitarist, singer, and songwriter Bob Weir was born in San Francisco, California on October 16, 1947. Weir was raised by adoptive parents and suffered from severe dyslexia as a child, which resulted in his expulsion from nearly every school he attended. He first connected with his Grateful Dead bandmate Jerry Garcia in Palo Alto, California on New Year’s Eve 1963. Weir and a friend, both 16 at the time, were wandering the streets hoping to gain entrance to a bar when they met Garcia in a music shop and spent the night jamming with him. The band rose to prominence around San Francisco in the late 1960s and began touring with groups including Moby Grape and Big Brother and the Holding Company (featuring Janis Joplin) as well as poet Allen Ginsberg. They eventually signed their first record deal with Warner Brothers and released their self-titled debut in 1967.