3 Feb 2016

Marty Duda's artist of the week: Jefferson Airplane

From Nine To Noon, 11:07 am on 3 February 2016

Two of the original members of Jefferson Airplane, one of America's premiere rock bands of the 1960s passed away this past week. Founding member Paul Kantner and original female vocalist Signe Anderson both died on January 28th, both were 74 years old. The Jefferson Airplane began as a folk-rock band founded by Kantner and Marty Balin in 1965, but with the addition of Grace Slick became one of the leading psychedelic bands out of San Francisco along with Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Grateful Dead and Big Brother & The Holding Co. By the 1970s they had morphed into Jefferson Starship thanks to Kantner's interest in sci-fi. The original Airplane eventually reunited in 1989 to tour and release a new album. Along the way guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady fomed Hot Tuna, while Jefferson Starship became simply Starship, cracking out hits in the 1980s.