American singer and songwriter
Donna Jean Godchaux, née Donna Jean Thatcher, was born in Florence,
Alabama. She became best known as a member of
Grateful Dead from
1972–
1979, where she was the only woman in the lineup. Before that, she worked as a session singer in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and later sang with the group Southern Comfort. Her backing vocals appeared on at least two songs that reached No. 1 on the U.S. chart: Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” in
1966 and
Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” in
1969. She also sang on recordings by Boz Scaggs, Duane Allman,
Cher,
Joe Tex,
Neil Diamond, and others. In
1970, she married keyboardist Keith Godchaux, who later also joined Grateful Dead. She died on November 2,
2025, at a hospice in Nashville from cancer at the age of 78.
