The Grateful Dead's longtime spokesman doesn't believe in curses. But even he can't explain the matter of the band's keyboard players.

Vince Welnick, who played keyboards for the tie-dyed outfit from 1990-95, died Friday at age 55. He is the fourth Dead piano man to pass away. On average, a Dead keyboard player has died every 8.25 years since 1973.

"I find it stunning, and I just don't know where it comes from," band publicist Dennis McNally said Monday. "They chose four times keyboard players...[who] one way or the other found it hard to keep on."

"I don't know why it happens, but it's very sad."

Welnick died "after a decade of battling tragedy while creating music, beauty and light around him," his official Website said. The San Francisco Chronicle was more specific with regards to cause of death, reporting it as an apparent suicide.

"His service to and love for the Grateful Dead were heartfelt and essential," a statement on the Dead's official Website said. "He had a loving soul and a joy in music that we were lucky to share."

Welnick was said to have been hit especially hard by the 1995 death of Dead frontman Jerry Garcia, who played lead guitar. Garcia's passing meant the end of the band's nearly 30-year Summer of Love, although surviving Dead members have regrouped in recent years.

In a VinceWelnick.com message-board post attributed to Mike Lawson, a friend of the late musician, Dead members, including guitarist Bob Weir, were blasted for not including Welnick in those post-Garcia shows.

"He loved you and you f--king treated him like s--t," the post said. "To see your 'heartfelt' message on Dead.net today sickens me to no end, you f--king bunch of lying hypocrites."

"Where is the love? Where is the compassion? Hippy love? Bull-f--king-s--t."

McNally said he'd read the Lawson-credited post. "I respect the quality of his affection for Vince, and the trauma he's going through," he said. "The only response is to try to be compassionate. I can't comment on specifics."

Born February 21, 1951, in Phoenix, Welnick was a member of the Tubes ("White Punks On Dope"), and recorded with the likes of Todd Rundgren and Dick Dale before securing the Dead gig. Welnick replaced Brent Mydland (overdose, 1990), who'd replaced Keith Godchaux (car crash--after he'd left the band, 1980), who'd played alongside and eventually replaced Ron "Pig Pen" McKernan (reported stomach hemorrhage due to heavy drinking, 1973).

"The Way It Is" hitmaker Bruce Hornsby, who sat in with the Dead after Mydland's death, is among those who have played keyboards for the band to no apparent ill effect.

McNally said he'll always remember Welnick for working out an arrangement of the National Anthem for the Dead to sing at the San Francisco Giants' 1993 baseball home opener. Given that the Dead "were not legendary for their harmonies," as McNally put it, the task wasn't an easy one. But the result, in his opinion, was a sublime one.

"It was straight Sons of the Pioneers--classic three-part harmony...It was this marvelous moment." McNally said. "And it was because of him."