The estate of late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia has partnered with Eleven Labs to recreate his voice using AI. Billboard reports that through what Eleven calls an “iconic listening experience,” users of the Eleven Reader app will be able to read audiobooks, articles, poems, PDFs and more of their choice in the singer-songwriter’s voice. It is said that it became. Garcia’s voice is available in 32 languages.
This is not the first voice to be added to the list of personalities available through the AI company’s app, whose repertoire also includes Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds and Sir Laurence Olivier. Garcia’s recent voice reproduction was made possible through the collaboration of Garcia’s estate and Eleven Labs. The Jerry Garcia Foundation, co-founded by his daughter Keelin Garcia, is also considering modeling Garcia’s voice for narrated documentaries and audio art exhibits.
Dustin Blank, Head of Partnerships at Eleven Labs, told Billboard: “By bringing voices like Jerry Garcia to our platform, we’re not only making our app stronger, we’re also making it easier for people to engage with our content.” This project was a labor of love and we couldn’t be more pleased with how Jerry’s voice has been recreated. It’s great to be able to bring his sound to life again for both long-time fans and a new generation of listeners. ”
Recently, it has become a trend to bring back the voices of deceased artists into new projects. Paul McCartney used AI to extract and perfect John Lennon’s vocals for The Last Beatles Record, released earlier this year. Edith Piaf’s estate has partnered with Warner Music to restore her voice so it can be used in an upcoming biopic about the famous “La Vie en Rose” singer.
Keelin Garcia said the reproduction and production of the audio was done to continue her late father’s legacy. “My father was a pioneering artist who embraced innovative audio and visual techniques,” Garcia says. She talked about how her father appreciated digital art and video games, and always kept up with new technology. Garcia continued, “As the technology landscape continues to expand, Eleven Labs’ AI audio technology will be the first to allow fans to hear and stream a replica of their father’s voice while reading their favorite books and other written content.” “It’s going to give fans an opportunity.”
