The story of Jefferson Starship is about the phoenix that rose from the ashes

Jefferson Starship was one of the most successful rock bands of the 1970s and early 1980s. Founded by guitarist Paul Kantner and singer Grace Slick as one of the results of the decay of the band Jefferson Airplane, they soon called up former lead singer Marty Balin to join them. Their second album "Red Octopus." reached number one on the Billboard album charts, and the single "Miracles" reached number three on the charts.

Many fans Airplane denounced Starship's more mainstream musical direction. This was particularly evident when Grace Slick and Marty Balin left the band in 1978.

But with the passage of time and with the constant changing line-up, the band continued to bring joy to their loyal fans for several decades. Subsequently, they moved on to pop style and adopted their new name, Starship. In the 1990s, Paul Kantner revived project, bringing Marty Balin back into the lineup in the mid-2000s. After Kantner's tragic passing in 2016, the bassist continued to maintain Group and in the 2020s.

The success and demise of Jefferson Airplane

In the 1975s, Jefferson Airplane, psychedelic A rock band originally formed in San Francisco in the 1960s and became known for their hits "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit," began to slowly disintegrate.

At one point in time, Jorma Kaukonen, a leading guitaristand bassist Jack Kasady have started to show everything larger interest in his own band Hot Tuna, forgetting Jefferson Airplane. At that time, the other leading members of the band, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Paul Kantner and vocalist Grace Slick, began to develop their own own musical interests and entered into romantic relationship with each other. And the head Marty Balin was so disappointed the current state of the project, which he himself founded, that he decided to leave at the end of the 1970 tour.

В debut Paul Kantner's solo record entitled "Blows Against the Empire" brings together an impressive line-up of talented musicians from bands such as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills & Nash. To universal acclaim. values of this studio collaboration, Kantner chose to indicate that the album was co-written with Jefferson Starship, although in fact the official there had never been a band with that name before. The album was recorded with the participation of executorswho later became members of Jefferson Starship, including Kantner himself, Grace Slick and David Freiberg.

A second life

A year later, in late 1971, Paul Kantner and Grace Slick released joint an album called Sunfighter. One of the songs, "Earth Mother", was written by Jack Traylor, school an English teacher and friend of Kantner's. This composition featured a young Craig Chaquico on lead guitar, pupil Traylor and a member of the Steelwind collective he founded.

Jefferson Airplane released following a record entitled "Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun," which was co-recorded by Paul Kantner, Grace Slick and David Freiberg and released in the spring of 1973. This album also featured other members of Jefferson Airplane in minor roles, as well as a young Chakiko. Many of these musicians also took part in debut Grace Slick's solo album called Manhole, which was released in 1974.

When it became apparent that Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Kasady were not showing interests to re-unite Jefferson Airplane, Paul Kantner decided to create a permanent touring the band without their involvement. The name "Jefferson Airplane" was the property of Casady, Kantner, Kaukonen, Grace Slick and the band's manager Bill Thompson.

Formed from remainders members of the old band, the new group started its musical activities. Paul Kantner practised rhythm guitar and performed vocal Grace Slick was responsible for the vocals, David Freiberg was the vocalist and keyboardist, and Papa John Creech added the electric violin sound. The drums were played by John Barbata, and young Chakiko, who was still a teenager. Peter was brought in to play bass, brother Jorma Kaukonen, who had previously participated in the recording of the albums "Blows Against the Empire", "Sunfighter" and "Manhole". In January 1974, the band started rehearsals, and they began their first tour with a concert in Chicago on 19 March.

And then there's the decay again...

In 1985, the band Starship achieved notable commercial prominence successeswhich lasted until it broke up in the early 90s. After that, Paul Kantner began work on creating a new project called the K.B.C. Band, featuring Marty Balin and Jack Casady.

In 1986, they released the eponymous album. In 1989, Kantner took part in a temporary reunion of the band Jefferson Airplane.

Next Generation

In the early '90s, Paul Kantner put together new a band that started touring under the name Jefferson Starship: Next Generation. Translated, the title stands for Jefferson Starship: The Next Generation. Despite the fact that it didn't have official rights to use the name, neither Grace Slick nor Bill Thompson took legal action to prevent him from doing so.

In fact, Grace SlickAlthough she announced her retirement after the reunion of Jefferson Airplane, she still made occasional appearances with the band. Marty Balin, Jack Casady, Papa John Creech and even Signe Anderson have also appeared on stage at various times. Beginning with. concert 1995 album entitled "Deep Space/Virgin Sky", the band consisted of Paul Kantner, Marty Balin, Jack Casady and Darby Gould, a former World Entertainment War member on vocals. The band also featured lead guitarist Slick Aguilar and keyboardist Tim Gorman of the K.B.C. Band, with Prairie Prince of The Tubes playing drums. Grace Slick joined the band as a guest vocalist.

In January 2016, Paul Kantner suffered severe multi-organ failure, which led to his demise in San Francisco when he was 74 years old. On the same day and at the same age, singer Signy Anderson died at her home in Beaverton, Oregon. Then, on 27 September 2018, Marty Balin, also a former member of Jefferson Airplane, passed away in Tampa, Florida, at the age of 76.

David Freibergguitarist and former member of Jefferson Starship, decided to create a new version of the band. Together with talented vocalist Katie Richardson they started recording an album called "Mother of the Sun"which was released in August 2020. This work was a new step in evolutions Jefferson Starship sound and brought its own special note to their musical legacy.

The "Mother of the Sun" record included a compelling song titled "It's About Time"which was the result of a collaboration between David Freiberg and Grace Slick. This musical collaboration added a special depth and emotion to the album, attracting the listeners' attention with its strong melody and the profound with text.