LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Airplane: Jefferson Airplane
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Jefferson Airplane was the first of the San Francisco psychedelic rock groups of the 1960s to achieve national recognition. Although the Grateful Dead ultimately proved more long-lived and popular, Jefferson Airplane defined the San Francisco sound in the 1960s, with the acid rock guitar playing of Jorma Kaukonen and the soaring twin vocals of Grace Slick and Marty Balin scoring hit singles and looking out from the covers of national magazines. They epitomized the drug-taking hippie ethos as well as the left-wing, antiwar political movement of their time, and their history was one of controversy along with hit records. Their personal interactions mirrored those times; the group was a collective with shifting alliances, in which leaders emerged and retreated. But for all the turmoil, Jefferson Airplane was remarkably productive between 1965 and 1972. They toured regularly, being the only band to play at all the major '60s rock festivals -- Monterey Woodstock even Altamont -- and they released seven studio albums, five of which went gold, plus two live LPs and a million-selling hits collection that chronicled their eight chart singles.
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Along with the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane are regarded as the most successful San Francisco band of the late 60s. The group were formed in August 1965 by Marty Balin (b. Martyn Jerel Buchwald, 30 January 1942, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; vocals, guitar). The other members in the original line-up were Paul Kantner (b. 17 March 1941, San Francisco, California, USA; guitar, vocals) and Jorma Kaukonen (b. 23 December 1940, Washington, DC, USA; guitar, vocals).
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Jefferson Airplane performed at the Berkeley Folk Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock, and Altamont. They had hit singles White Rabbit and Somebody to Love, from the album "Surrealistic Pillow". They were on the cover of Life Magazine in 1968. The band co- headlined with the Doors in Europe in the summer of 1968. Many legendary bands opened for the Airplane: Grateful Dead, Santana, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who, Janis Joplin, Steve Miller, and many others.
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In the early '70s, the members of Jefferson Airplane became increasingly preoccupied by their side projects. Hot Tuna having issued a second live album, First Pull Up, Then Pull Down in the spring of 1971, put out its first studio effort, Burgers in February 1972. Kantner and Slick who had become a couple and had a child, China Kantner (who went on to be an MTV VJ in her teens), issued a duo album, Sunfighter in December 1971. In April 1972, Covington left the band and was replaced by veteran drummer John Barbata (born in Passaic, NJ, April 1, 1945), formerly a member of the Turtles and a backup musician for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young The group then recorded its seventh studio album, Long John Silver which was issued in the summer of 1972. It reached the Top 20 and went gold within six months. For the accompanying tour, they added singer/multi-instrumentalist David Freiberg (born in Boston, MA, August 24, 1938), formerly a member of the San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service to provide the male lead vocals formerly sung by Balin The tour concluded at the Winterland ballroom in San Francisco on September 22, 1972, in effect marking the end of Jefferson Airplane although no formal announcement was ever made.
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Jefferson Airplane created the sounds of a generation. Their smash hits "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" provided the soundtrack to the Summer of Love, virtually inventing the era's signature pulsating psychedelic music, and came to personify the decade's radical counterculture. Read more about this legendary band
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Craig Fenton has been archiving Jefferson Airplane music for the past 31 years. He possesses the largest collection of Jefferson Airplane rarities with the exception of Marty Balin's dad. Craig is a former radio personality for 10 years and is an expert in 1960s and 1970s rock and roll. For a seat on the ultimate Airplane ride visit Craig's website at http://www.takemetoacircustent.net.
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