Grace Slick is 81 years old today.
A singer, songwriter and former model, Slick was one of the lead singers of The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship. She was also a solo artist from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s.
An important figure in the 1960s psychedelic rock movement, Slick is known for her witty lyrics and powerful contralto vocals.
Slick's music career started in 1965 in San Francisco when she and her then husband, Jerry Slick, formed their own band, The Great Society. By early 1966, the band became a popular psychedelic act in the Bay area. Grace Slick provided vocals, guitar, piano and recorder and co-wrote a majority of the band's songs with her brother-in-law, Darby Slick.
That autumn Jefferson Airplane's singer, Signe Toly Anderson, left the band to start a family and the Airplane asked Slick to join them. Slick said that she joined the Airplane because it was run in a professional manner, unlike The Great Society.
She took two compositions from The Great Society with her; "White Rabbit,” which she is purported to have written in an hour, and "Somebody to Love,” both of which went on to become hits.
Though both songs were first performed by The Great Society, their versions of the songs were much different. The Great Society's rendering of "White Rabbit" featured an oboe solo by Slick. With Slick on board, the Airplane began recording new music. They took on a new direction, performing more psychedelic music.
By 1967, Surrealistic Pillow and the singles taken from it were great successes, and Jefferson Airplane became one of the most popular bands in the country. Slick rose to fame, earning her position as one of the most prominent female rock musicians of her time.
During Jefferson Starship's 1978 European tour, Slick's alcoholism became a problem for the band. The group had to cancel the first night in Germany because she was too intoxicated to perform, causing the audience to riot.
Slick performed the next night with the band, but was so inebriated she could not sing properly. She began to attack the audience, mocking the country for losing World War II and groping both female audience members and band mates. The next day she left the group.
Slick was one of the first female rock stars, alongside her close contemporary, Janis Joplin, and therefore an important figure in the development of rock music in the late 1960s.
Here, Slick with Jefferson Airplane performs “White Rabbit” at Woodstock, 1969