Biography
Grace Slick gained renown for her commanding vocals as the lead singer of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship, the rock outfits she fronted across the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Born into an affluent family in Palo Alto, California, she first worked as a model and wed Jerry Slick. After attending a 1965 Jefferson Airplane show, she joined her husband and brother-in-law Darby Slick to launch the Great Society. That ensemble issued the Darby Slick-penned single “Somebody to Love” on the local North Beach Records imprint in 1966 before quickly dissolving; Columbia Records later assembled two albums from the band’s surviving live tapes. Invited to succeed Signe Anderson in Jefferson Airplane, Slick entered the lineup in time to record the group’s second album, Surrealistic Pillow. She contributed both “Somebody to Love” and her own bolero-paced “White Rabbit,” whose lyrics alluded to drug use and Alice in Wonderland; both tracks, featuring her lead vocals, reached the Top Ten in 1967 alongside the album itself. From that point she anchored the band through seven subsequent releases: After Bathing at Baxter’s (1967), Crown of Creation (1968), Bless Its Pointed Little Head (1969), Volunteers (1969), Bark (1971), Long John Silver (1972), and Thirty Seconds Over Winterland (1973). Once the group established its own Grunt Records imprint in 1971, individual projects proliferated; Slick teamed with guitarist Paul Kantner for Sunfighter (1971), while Baron Von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun (1973) listed Kantner, Slick, and David Freiberg as co-credited artists. Her first solo effort, Manhole, appeared in 1974. After Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady exited, Jefferson Airplane disbanded following the 1972 releases. Kantner and Slick regrouped the remaining members as Jefferson Starship, issuing Dragon Fly in 1974. The 1975 album Red Octopus topped the charts and achieved double-platinum status; Spitfire (1976) and Earth (1978) each sold a million copies as well. Slick departed for two solo projects, Dreams (1980) and Welcome to the Wrecking Ball! (1981), then returned as a guest on Modern Times (1981) before participating fully on Winds of Change (1982) and Nuclear Furniture (1984); she also completed a fourth solo album, Software (1984). Following Kantner’s exit, the ensemble shortened its name to Starship. Slick stayed on through the million-selling Knee Deep in the Hoopla (1985) and No Protection (1987), sharing lead vocals with Mickey Thomas on the chart-topping singles “We Built This City” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” She exited the group in 1988. The following year she took part in a Jefferson Airplane reunion that produced both a tour and a self-titled album. Retiring from the stage during the 1990s, she published her autobiography, Somebody to Love?, in 1998. RCA capped the decade with the 1999 compilation The Best of Grace Slick.
Albums
