Tom Constanten

Tom Constanten, composer and second keyboardist for the Grateful Dead, was born on March 19, 1944 in Long Branch, NJ. In the fall of 1961, he met future Dead bassist Phil Lesh while studying astronomy at U.C. Berkeley in California. The two hit it off famously. Soon they were rooming together, cranking out avant-garde compositions. They enrolled at the legendary Mills College to study with composer Luciano Berio. When Berio invited the pair to accompany him to Europe, Constanten eagerly accepted, while Lesh stayed Stateside. While in Germany, Constanten studied with many of ...