Editing Grace Slick (section)

=== Joining Jefferson Airplane ===

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.