Few bands have inspired devotion in their fans like the Grateful Dead. They are among the most revered and obsessed over outfits in all of rock music, and a lot of their appeal boils down to the musicality and constant experimentation of their members. Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and of course, Mickey Hart.
Hart may not have been a founding member of the Grateful Dead, but he was a vital part of the band's most celebrated era in the late 60s and early 70s. He was the drummer who helped to anchor Garcia's guitar wizardry and Weir's soulful vocals. He did, however, reach a breaking point. Hart opted to leave the Grateful Dead in 1971.
Hart was exiled from the band for three years
The reasons are more complicated than you might think. Most musicians decide to leave a band due to a desire to go solo, but Mickey Hart's reasoning was darker. Hart's father briefly managed Grateful Dead, and he embezzled $70K from the band before his termination. A rift resulted, between the rest of the band and Hart.
It didn't help matters that Hart was strung out on various drugs. In his 2015 book, Bill Kreutzmann claimed that the drummer was regularly shooting up on heroin and "other dark drugs" during this period. "Mickey wasn't able to play at the level he was capable of and it was beginning to affect our performances," the band member stated. "He was getting really spacey and just getting so far out there that he wasn't able to deliver the music."
Hart is still a member of Dead & Company
Hart released a solo album during these wilderness years, Rolling Thunder (1972), but he struggled to generate much attention on his own. Fortunately, the drummer was able to clean up, and reunite with his Dead brethren for a 1974 concert. Hart was officially reinstated as a member two years later, and he stayed with the band until it split up in 1995.
Hart remained a vital member of the Grateful Dead family, however, well into the 21st century. He was part of the band the Other Ones, which was also included former Dead members Weir and Phil Lesh. Hart was also the drummer for the Dead, a band including Weir, Lesh and Kreutzmann, and Dead & Company, a larger, separate spinoff than launched in 2015.
Hart is still the drummer of Dead & Company, which is slated to have a concert residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas in 2025.