Biography
Darby Slick handled guitar duties in the Great Society, the group in which his sister-in-law Grace Slick sang prior to her move to the Jefferson Airplane. He also authored "Somebody to Love," a song Grace Slick brought into the Jefferson Airplane's live sets and sang lead on for their Top Ten single. Beyond those connections, Slick proved himself a capable and singular guitarist and songwriter whose fusion of rock and Indian elements helped shape the rise of San Francisco psychedelic rock. Greater recognition eluded him largely because the Great Society folded after releasing just one scarce single, although collections of live and demo material have appeared since.
His brother Jerry Slick married Grace Wing, a childhood neighbor from Palo Alto, CA, in 1961. When Darby, Jerry, and Grace formed a band in the mid-'60s, none possessed much playing experience. Darby Slick stood out as the strongest musician in the lineup, drawing a surf-psychedelic tone from his Silvertone guitar that differentiated the ensemble from other acts emerging across the San Francisco Bay Area. Once the completed Great Society began performing and cutting sides for Autumn Records, the most compelling original songs came from Grace and Darby Slick. In addition to "Somebody to Love," Darby wrote "Darkly Smiling" and "Everybody Knows," tracks that revealed his gift for bittersweet melodies. As a guitarist he threaded modal, Eastern-tinged improvisations through numbers such as "Grimly Forming," "Arbitration," "White Rabbit," and the band's version of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses," all preserved on the 1966 live collection Collector's Item.
Issued in 1966 on the North Beach label, an Autumn subsidiary, "Somebody to Love" appeared under the title "Someone to Love" yet received scant airplay or distribution. Darby Slick also wrote the B-side, "Free Advice," a full-scale merging of Indian ragas and rock. Although major labels expressed interest, the Great Society dissolved in late 1966 when Grace Slick replaced Signe Anderson in the Jefferson Airplane. The split might have happened anyway, since Darby Slick and bassist Peter Vandergelder were immersing themselves in Indian music and contemplating a trip to India to study with Ali Akbar Khan. Darby reached India and returned to San Francisco after roughly six months, by which point "Somebody to Love" had become a major success for the Jefferson Airplane. Many listeners nonetheless took it for a Grace Slick composition, since the Surrealistic Pillow credit listed only "Slick" and the Airplane contained just one member by that name.
Back in California, Darby Slick spent a couple of years playing with Hair, a band that the '60s San Francisco rock history fanzine Cream Puff War characterized as offering "a multi-racial blend of experimental soul/R&B, similar to the then-popular Loading Zone." After Hair ended, he and lead singer Jean Piersol cut a pair of singles and an unreleased album for Cadet Concept, a Chess subsidiary. Slick then returned to Indian music, studying with Ali Akbar Khan for 12 years. In the '90s he released an album with his son on which he employed a fretless guitar of his own design that combined guitar and sarod qualities. He also issued the instrumental solo album King of the Fretless Guitar. His 1991 autobiography from a small press, Don't You Want Somebody to Love, concentrates almost entirely on his time in the Great Society and his subsequent journey to India.
His brother Jerry Slick married Grace Wing, a childhood neighbor from Palo Alto, CA, in 1961. When Darby, Jerry, and Grace formed a band in the mid-'60s, none possessed much playing experience. Darby Slick stood out as the strongest musician in the lineup, drawing a surf-psychedelic tone from his Silvertone guitar that differentiated the ensemble from other acts emerging across the San Francisco Bay Area. Once the completed Great Society began performing and cutting sides for Autumn Records, the most compelling original songs came from Grace and Darby Slick. In addition to "Somebody to Love," Darby wrote "Darkly Smiling" and "Everybody Knows," tracks that revealed his gift for bittersweet melodies. As a guitarist he threaded modal, Eastern-tinged improvisations through numbers such as "Grimly Forming," "Arbitration," "White Rabbit," and the band's version of "Sally Go 'Round the Roses," all preserved on the 1966 live collection Collector's Item.
Issued in 1966 on the North Beach label, an Autumn subsidiary, "Somebody to Love" appeared under the title "Someone to Love" yet received scant airplay or distribution. Darby Slick also wrote the B-side, "Free Advice," a full-scale merging of Indian ragas and rock. Although major labels expressed interest, the Great Society dissolved in late 1966 when Grace Slick replaced Signe Anderson in the Jefferson Airplane. The split might have happened anyway, since Darby Slick and bassist Peter Vandergelder were immersing themselves in Indian music and contemplating a trip to India to study with Ali Akbar Khan. Darby reached India and returned to San Francisco after roughly six months, by which point "Somebody to Love" had become a major success for the Jefferson Airplane. Many listeners nonetheless took it for a Grace Slick composition, since the Surrealistic Pillow credit listed only "Slick" and the Airplane contained just one member by that name.
Back in California, Darby Slick spent a couple of years playing with Hair, a band that the '60s San Francisco rock history fanzine Cream Puff War characterized as offering "a multi-racial blend of experimental soul/R&B, similar to the then-popular Loading Zone." After Hair ended, he and lead singer Jean Piersol cut a pair of singles and an unreleased album for Cadet Concept, a Chess subsidiary. Slick then returned to Indian music, studying with Ali Akbar Khan for 12 years. In the '90s he released an album with his son on which he employed a fretless guitar of his own design that combined guitar and sarod qualities. He also issued the instrumental solo album King of the Fretless Guitar. His 1991 autobiography from a small press, Don't You Want Somebody to Love, concentrates almost entirely on his time in the Great Society and his subsequent journey to India.
Albums