Biography
Born in Washington, D.C., on April 13, 1944, as John William Casady, the bassist who would later anchor Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna first handled a guitar at age twelve, though he treated the instrument casually until a few years afterward. While still in his mid-teens he joined the local group the Rendezvous, an engagement that introduced him to guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. The pair soon started their own combo, the Triumphs, which dissolved when Kaukonen relocated to the West Coast. They stayed in touch, and during this period Casady switched to bass, occasionally supporting visiting headliners such as Ray Charles and Little Anthony. In late 1965 Kaukonen had already entered Jefferson Airplane, a rising San Francisco ensemble then seeking a bassist; Casady received an invitation to audition even though his friend remained unaware of the instrument change.
He secured the position, yet required several months to mesh musically and visually with the others, having arrived in collegiate attire. The band’s first album, Takes Off, appeared in 1966, but the arrival of vocalist Grace Slick—urged by Casady—propelled 1967’s Surrealistic Pillow to national attention. Subsequent Airplane releases, including After Bathing at Baxter’s (1967), Crown of Creation (1968), Bless Its Pointed Little Head (1969), and Volunteers (1969), confirmed the group’s stature among leading psychedelic acts, even as internal drug use and power struggles eroded its original direction. Sensing this shift, Casady and Kaukonen inaugurated Hot Tuna near the start of the 1970s.
The project began as an acoustic side venture, yet its early recordings—Hot Tuna (1970), First Pull Up (1971), and Burgers (1972)—quickly surpassed the final Airplane albums that still featured the pair, Bark (1971) and Long John Silver (1972). Consequently the duo devoted themselves to Hot Tuna full-time, issuing The Phosphorescent Rat (1973), Yellow Fever and America’s Choice (both 1975), and Hoppkorv (1976) before that band also dissolved. By the mid-seventies punk and new wave had surfaced, prompting Casady to form the modern-rock quartet SVT, which released Extended Play in 1980 and No Regrets in 1981 before the death of singer Brian Marnell ended the group.
During the eighties Casady rejoined former Airplane colleagues on Paul Kantner’s Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra (1983) and in the short-lived KBC Band, whose sole album appeared in 1986. Additional Hot Tuna reunions occurred, along with an ill-advised 1989 Jefferson Airplane reunion record. Throughout the nineties Casady alternated between Hot Tuna and Jefferson Airplane performances, the latter billed at times as Jefferson Starship: The Next Generation; in 2000 he and Kantner launched the acoustic Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers. Over the decades he also contributed to outside sessions, among them Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland, Crosby, Stills & Nash’s debut, and albums by Country Joe & the Fish, Papa John Creach, David Crosby, Roky Erickson, Warren Zevon, Rusted Root, and various Airplane members’ solo projects.
He secured the position, yet required several months to mesh musically and visually with the others, having arrived in collegiate attire. The band’s first album, Takes Off, appeared in 1966, but the arrival of vocalist Grace Slick—urged by Casady—propelled 1967’s Surrealistic Pillow to national attention. Subsequent Airplane releases, including After Bathing at Baxter’s (1967), Crown of Creation (1968), Bless Its Pointed Little Head (1969), and Volunteers (1969), confirmed the group’s stature among leading psychedelic acts, even as internal drug use and power struggles eroded its original direction. Sensing this shift, Casady and Kaukonen inaugurated Hot Tuna near the start of the 1970s.
The project began as an acoustic side venture, yet its early recordings—Hot Tuna (1970), First Pull Up (1971), and Burgers (1972)—quickly surpassed the final Airplane albums that still featured the pair, Bark (1971) and Long John Silver (1972). Consequently the duo devoted themselves to Hot Tuna full-time, issuing The Phosphorescent Rat (1973), Yellow Fever and America’s Choice (both 1975), and Hoppkorv (1976) before that band also dissolved. By the mid-seventies punk and new wave had surfaced, prompting Casady to form the modern-rock quartet SVT, which released Extended Play in 1980 and No Regrets in 1981 before the death of singer Brian Marnell ended the group.
During the eighties Casady rejoined former Airplane colleagues on Paul Kantner’s Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra (1983) and in the short-lived KBC Band, whose sole album appeared in 1986. Additional Hot Tuna reunions occurred, along with an ill-advised 1989 Jefferson Airplane reunion record. Throughout the nineties Casady alternated between Hot Tuna and Jefferson Airplane performances, the latter billed at times as Jefferson Starship: The Next Generation; in 2000 he and Kantner launched the acoustic Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers. Over the decades he also contributed to outside sessions, among them Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland, Crosby, Stills & Nash’s debut, and albums by Country Joe & the Fish, Papa John Creach, David Crosby, Roky Erickson, Warren Zevon, Rusted Root, and various Airplane members’ solo projects.
Albums
