Grateful Dead - Garcia's Estate Refuses To Release Songs For Movie

A movie based on the life of GRATEFUL DEAD star JERRY GARCIA has been thrown into jeopardy after the late rocker's estate refused producers permission to feature the rocker's music.

The guitarist, who passed away in 1995, is the focus of a new film which will tell the story of his rise to fame.

It is based on Robert Greenfield's book Dark Star: An Oral History of Jerry Garcia and will be directed by Amir Bar-Lev.

But the executors of Garcia's estate and the band's Grateful Dead Productions have distanced themselves from the project and denied a request for Garcia's songs to be featured in the biopic.

A joint statement reads, "We want to make clear that neither Grateful Dead Prods. nor the Jerry Garcia Family LLC are in any way working with - or are in any other way affiliated with - the supposed upcoming Amir Bar-Lev-directed biopic about Jerry Garcia.

"We will not be licensing any recordings from Grateful Dead or Jerry Garcia's music library for this production, nor will we provide the producer/director with access to any Garcia family members."

The rocker co-founded the band in 1965 and was the group's main songwriter until his death from a heart attack at the age of 53 in 1995.