Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, Grateful Dead Vocalist, Dies

Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, a soulful mezzo-soprano who provided backing vocals on such 1960s classics as “Suspicious Minds” and “When a Man Loves a Woman” and was a featured singer with the Grateful Dead for much of the 1970s, has died at 78.​

A spokesperson for Godchaux-MacKay confirmed that she died Sunday at Alive Hospice in Nashville after having cancer. Godchaux-McKay and other Grateful Dead members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.​

Born Donna Jean Thatcher in Florence, Alabama, she had yet to turn 20 when she became a session performer in nearby Muscle Shoals, where many soul and rhythm and blues hits were recorded, and also was on hand for numerous sessions at the Memphis-based American Sound Studio. Her credits included Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds,” Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” and songs with Neil Diamond, Boz Scaggs and Cher.​

In the early 1970s, she and pianist/then-husband Keith Godchaux joined the Grateful Dead and remained with them for several tours and albums, including Terrapin Station, Shakedown Street and From the Mars Hotel. Godchaux appeared on numerous songs, whether joining with Jerry Garcia on “Scarlet Begonias” or writing and taking the lead on “From the Heart of Me.”​

Godchaux-MacKay, right, with the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir, performed as a vocalist with the legendary band for nearly a decade.

1978 photo by Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images

The Godchauxs left the Dead in 1979, with hopes of forming their own group, but Keith Godchaux died the following year from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Donna, who married bassist David MacKay in 1981, continued to tour and record over the following decades.​

Her albums include Back Around and Donna Jean and the Tricksters. In the 1970s, she and Keith Godchaux released Keith & Donna.

In addition to David MacKay, survivors include sons Kinsman MacKay and Zion Godchaux and two siblings, Gogi Clark and Ivan Thatcher.​