Jefferson Airplane

(Most successful lineup: Vocals/guitar: Paul Kantner, b. San Francisco, March 12, 1942; Vocals: Marty Balin [Martyn Jerel Buchwald], b. Cincinnati, Jan. 30, 1942; Vocals: Grace [Wing] Slick, b. Chicago, Oct. 30, 1939; Lead guitar: Jorma Kaukonen, b. Washington, D.C., Dec. 23, 1940; Bass: Jack Casady, b. Washington, D.C., Apr. 13, 1944; Drums: Spencer Dryden, b. N.Y., Apr. 7, 1943.) San Francisco folk-rock band of the mid-'60s that survived through an amazing number of personnel and name changes.

The band originally formed around folksinger Marty Balin and guitarists Paul Kantner and Jorma Kaukonen, female vocalist Singe Toly, string-bass player Bob Harvey, and drummer Jerry Pelequin (although Alexander "Skip" Spence soon replaced Pelequin). The group gave its first performance in San Francisco on Aug. 13, 1965. Their first album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off launched the so-called San Francisco sound.

There were inevitable changes in personnel. The vocalist GRACE SLICK joined the group in 1966. She had formerly sung in another Bay Area ensemble, The Great Society. Spencer Dryden replaced drummer Spence, who left that same year to form the psychedelic group, MOBY GRAPE. Slick brought with her a number of songs, including her composition White Rabbit, based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, and her former husband's ballad Someone to Love, both major hits.

The group veered between recording romantic ballads and more politically minded songs, particularly 1969's minor hit Volunteers and Kantner's We Can Be Together. In 1968 they made a successful European tour, but soon group members were arguing over personal and political differences.

Kaukonen and Casaday formed a side group, Hot Tuna, in 1969 to perform traditional blues, which continued to record and perform through much of the '70s. Kantner began showing an interest in science fiction, producing the theme album Blows against the Empire in 1970 featuring members of the group (minus Balin, who was about to leave the band) and many of its peers, including JERRY GARCÍA, DAVID CROSBY, and GRAHAM NASH. The group also formed its own vanity label, Grunt, in 1972, releasing various projects. However, from 1972 to 1975 there was no really working version of the group recording or touring.

The group got together again in 1975 under the new name Jefferson Starship, producing the successful album Red Octopus. Balin had returned to the group, contributing the hit song Miracles, but he soon was gone again. Another European tour in 1978 was marred by Slick's alcoholism, leading her to leave the group to dry out until 1981.

The group reformed with lead singer Mickey Thomas in 1979, and Slick came back two years later for more hits through 1984. Kantner left that year, suing the group, who were forced to rename themselves Starship. Despite the lawsuit, the group went on, with major hits including We Built This City.

Slick was gone again by 1988, and a year later the "original" group of Kantner-Balin-Casady-Slick-Kaukonen regrouped for a modest-selling reunion album. More turmoil followed, with Kantner leading various personnel in a group known as Paul Kantner's Jefferson Starship. Balin rejoined Kantner's group in 1993 and Slick did so two years later, to little success. Of late, beyond occasional reunions, the band is no longer working.