Craig Chaquico

During the 1970s and 1980s, Craig Chaquico served as lead guitarist for Jefferson Starship, the band that later evolved into Starship. His debut adult contemporary acoustic album, Acoustic Highway, appeared in 1993. A lifelong musician, Chaquico had already turned professional by age 14, performing in nightclubs, and he first connected with Jefferson Starship at 16. He initially contributed to recordings with several band members before receiving an official invitation to join their tours as lead guitarist.

At the same time, Chaquico led his own group, Steelwind, and balanced tours with both acts until he committed full-time to Starship. He soon emerged as one of the band’s principal songwriters, contributing to or co-writing tracks such as “Jane,” “Find Your Way Back,” and “Layin’ It on the Line.” Beginning in the early 1990s, Chaquico broadened his palette toward new age and world music, evident on the track “Just One World” and the 1994 release Acoustic Planet, which merged his guitar work with field recordings of African and Native American music. That song was later selected for NASA’s Space Ark project and remains in permanent orbit around Earth. His first album of the new millennium, 2002’s Shadow and Light, drew inspiration from the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York.

Away from performing, Chaquico pursues auto racing and participates in Muscular Dystrophy Association fundraisers aboard his Harley. He also works as a graphic artist and amateur astronomer. Although he issued several albums throughout the second half of the 1990s, his most notable efforts involved weekly charity performances—apart from occasional exceptions—at children’s hospitals, an initiative that prompted numerous fellow musicians to stage similar concerts.