Bobby & the Midnites were a Grateful Dead spin-off group led by the Dead's guitarist/singer Bob Weir during the first half of the '80s. Their initial lineup, in addition to Weir, comprised Bobby Cochran (guitar, vocals), the Dead's Brent Mydland (keyboards, vocals), Tim Bogert (bass), noted jazz fusion drummer Billy Cobham, and Matt Kelly (harmonica, guitar, congas), who had been in Weir's '70s spin-off group Kingfish. This sextet played their first gig at Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, California, on June 30, 1980. Bobby & the Midnites signed to the Dead's label, Arista Records, and released their self-titled debut album in November 1981, by which time Alphonso Johnson had replaced Bogert on bass. The album charted for a couple of months, but wasn't a big seller. The band, having dropped Kelly and replaced Mydland with keyboard player Dave Garland, toured extensively from 1982 to 1984. In March 1983, Ken Gradney replaced Johnson on bass. In August 1984, Columbia Records released Bobby & the Midnites' second album, Where the Beat Meets the Street, which wasn't commercially successful, though it charted briefly. Bobby & the Midnites played their final show on September 30, 1984, at Rio in Valley Stream, New York, after which Weir, while continuing with the Grateful Dead, rejoined Kingfish and did solo performances. He later performed with such groups as Nightfood and Go Ahead, and starting in 1988, began to tour regularly in a duo with bassist Rob Wasserman. Original bassist Tim Bogert died on January 13, 2021 after being diagnosed with cancer; he was 76 years old. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi