Grace Slick
Grace Slick
[edit]Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter, and painter whose musical career spanned four decades. A prominent figure in San Francisco's psychedelic music scene during the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, she initially performed with the Great Society before achieving fame as the lead singer and frontwoman of Jefferson Airplane and its spinoff bands Jefferson Starship and Starship. She possessed a powerful and supple contralto voice that complemented Marty Balin's and was well-suited to the group's amplified psychedelic music. She retired from music in the early 1990s and has since dedicated herself to painting full-time.
Early life
[edit]Grace Slick was born in Highland Park, Illinois, the daughter of investment banker Ivan Wing and retired performer Virginia Wing. During her childhood, her father's job moved the family around the country; they lived in Los Angeles and San Francisco before settling in Palo Alto, California. Slick graduated from Castilleja School, an all-girls high school in Palo Alto, before attending Finch College in New York City from 1957 to 1958 and the University of Miami in Florida from 1958 to 1959, where she studied art.
She married Jerry Slick, the son of her mother's best friend, in 1961. After a short stint in San Diego, the couple moved back to San Francisco, where she found work as a model for an I. Magnin department store while Jerry studied at San Francisco State University.
The Great Society
[edit]In 1965, Slick found musical inspiration after watching Jefferson Airplane perform at a San Francisco nightclub. She soon started her own group, calling it the Great Society — a name chosen to poke fun at the term used by President Lyndon B. Johnson to describe his social reform programs. The band consisted of Jerry on drums, Grace's brother-in-law Darby on guitar, David Minor on guitar and vocals, Peter van Gelder on saxophone, and Bard Dupont on bass.
Although Slick was an equal contributor to the Great Society's original material, Darby Slick pushed the band toward becoming a raga-influenced psychedelic act. By late 1965, they had become a popular attraction in the Bay Area. It was during this period that Slick composed two of her most enduring songs. "White Rabbit", a combination of a Spanish bolero rhythm and psychedelic lyrics drawn from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, was an instant favourite among the band's live audiences. "Somebody to Love" was written by Darby Slick and sung by Grace, and had already become a Bay Area hit before Jefferson Airplane adopted it.
Between October and December 1965, the Great Society entered Golden State Recorders and recorded several tracks under the supervision of Sly Stone. One single emerged — the Darby Slick-penned "Somebody to Love" backed with "Free Advice" — on the locally-based North Beach label.
Joining Jefferson Airplane
[edit]Slick first became aware of Jefferson Airplane while watching them perform at the Matrix club in San Francisco. Her band, the Great Society, had often supported them in concert. When original Airplane vocalist Signe Toly Anderson left the band in late 1966 to raise her newborn child, Slick was approached as her replacement.
Slick recalled in her 1998 memoir Somebody to Love? that the invitation came from bassist Jack Casady, who approached her in the balcony at the Avalon Ballroom after an Airplane concert: "Seemingly out of nowhere, Jack said, 'What do you think about singing with Airplane?'" Slick made her live debut with Jefferson Airplane on October 16, 1966 — the night after Anderson's farewell shows at The Fillmore.
Marty Balin later recalled the fit as immediate: "She was just like we were: drugged-out, drinking, free and ballsy and outrageous. She just fit in great." Casady added that her presence opened up new musical avenues for the band, allowing him to play more aggressive bass lines than the folk-oriented material of the Anderson era had permitted.
Jefferson Airplane
[edit]Slick's first album with Jefferson Airplane was Surrealistic Pillow (1967), for which she provided two songs from her time with the Great Society: her own "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love", written by her brother-in-law Darby Slick. Both became breakout successes and have since been associated with the Airplane. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and is widely regarded as one of the defining records of the counterculture era.
Slick remained the band's dominant vocal presence through subsequent albums including After Bathing at Baxter's (1967) and Crown of Creation (1968). In 1968, Slick performed "Crown of Creation" on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in blackface and ended the performance with a Black Panther raised fist. In an appearance on a 1969 episode of The Dick Cavett Show, she became the first person to say "motherfucker" on television during a performance of "We Can Be Together".
In February 1968, manager Bill Graham was fired after Slick delivered an "either he goes or I go" ultimatum. She and Paul Kantner became romantically involved from 1969 to 1975, and their daughter China was born in 1971, going on to have her own career as a singer, actress, and MTV VJ.
Jefferson Starship and Starship
[edit]After Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen left Jefferson Airplane to focus on Hot Tuna, Slick formed Jefferson Starship with Paul Kantner and other bandmates, and also began a string of solo albums with Manhole, followed by Dreams, Welcome to the Wrecking Ball!, and Software.
Slick struggled with alcohol dependency during this period, and Kantner asked her to leave the band in 1978; she rejoined in 1981. Kantner left Jefferson Starship in 1984, as he did not like the pop-oriented direction the band was taking. He later sued the band regarding its name, which prompted the remaining members to rename the band Starship in 1985. Starship had a string of hit pop rock songs in the 1980s, including "We Built This City" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", featuring Slick on co-lead vocals with singer Mickey Thomas.
Later career and retirement
[edit]Slick briefly retired from performing in 1988 before reuniting with the original members of Jefferson Airplane the following year. The group went on tour and produced one album together. Also in 2006, Slick gave a speech at the inauguration of the new Virgin America airline, which named their first aircraft Jefferson Airplane.
Jefferson Airplane were honoured with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
Visual art
[edit]Following her retirement from music, Slick devoted herself full-time to painting. Alice in Wonderland is a favourite subject of her art; she identifies with Alice's need to follow her curiosity, whether it leads her into trouble or not. Her subjects range from satirical political pieces to portraits of pop culture figures, animals, cityscapes, landscapes, nudes, and abstracts. Her media include oil paints, acrylics, scratchboard images, and pencil drawings. She has exhibited her work in galleries across the United States.
Personal life
[edit]Slick has been married three times. Her first marriage was to Jerry Slick, with whom she formed the Great Society; they divorced in the late 1960s. She was subsequently involved with Jefferson Airplane bandmate Paul Kantner from 1969 to 1975, with whom she had a daughter, China. She was later divorced from Skip Johnson in 1994. She currently lives in Malibu, California.
Discography (selected)
[edit]With Jefferson Airplane
[edit]| Year | Album | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Surrealistic Pillow | First album with the band; peaked at no. 3 on the Billboard 200 |
| 1967 | After Bathing at Baxter's | |
| 1968 | Crown of Creation | Peaked at no. 6 on the Billboard 200; RIAA gold certified |
| 1969 | Volunteers |
Solo albums
[edit]| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1974 | Manhole |
| 1980 | Dreams |
| 1981 | Welcome to the Wrecking Ball! |
| 1984 | Software |
See also
[edit]- Jefferson Airplane
- Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
- Surrealistic Pillow
- Crown of Creation
- Signe Toly Anderson
- San Francisco Sound
Further reading
[edit]- Slick, Grace and Andrea Cagan. Somebody to Love? A Rock-and-Roll Memoir. Warner Books, 1998.