The estate of late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia has recreated his voice using AI in partnership with Eleven Labs. The singer-songwriter’s voice can now read to ElevenReader app users their choice of audiobooks, articles, poetry, PDFs and more through what Eleven calls the Experience iconic listening, Notice board reported. Garcia’s voice is available in 32 different languages.

This isn’t the first voice added to the list of personalities available through the AI ​​company’s app, as its repertoire also includes Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds and Sir Laurence Olivier. Garcia’s recent vocal replication was possible through a collaboration between Garcia’s estate and ElevenLabs. The Jerry Garcia Foundation, co-founded by his daughter Keelin Garcia, is also considering Garcia’s voice model for narrated documentaries or audio art exhibitions.

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Dustin Blank, head of partnerships at ElevenLabs, told Billboard: “By bringing voices like Jerry Garcia to our platform, we’re not just improving our app: we’re creating new ways for people to discover content. This project has been a labor of love and we couldn’t be happier with how Jerry’s voice has been recreated. It’s a beautiful thing to bring his sound back to life, both for longtime fans and a new generation of listeners.

Bringing back the voices of deceased artists for new projects has become a trend recently. 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 recover her voice so it can be used in an upcoming biopic about the famous “La Vie En Rose” singer.

Keelin Garcia said the replication and production of the voice was done in an effort to continue her late father’s legacy. “My father was a pioneering artist who embraced innovative audio and visual technologies,” Garcia said. She told stories about her father’s appreciation for digital art and video games and the evolution of new technologies. Garcia continued: “Now, as technology landscapes expand, ElevenLabs AI Audio technology will provide fans with the first opportunity to hear and stream a replica of my father’s voice reading their favorite books and other written content. »

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