In 1968 I was 18. There wasn’t a woman on the planet I was more enamored with than Grace Slick. She was, at the time, lead singer of my favorite band, Jefferson Airplane. One year before they had released their Surrealistic Pillow album, which included the songs “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit.” One year later they would make a 6 a.m. appearance at Woodstock, playing a set that was delayed from 9 p.m. the night before.
It was the era of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Slick was the cover girl. Most important, in 1968, was the rock and roll. Most remember Slick for her soaring vocals on White Rabbit, a song she claims to have written on LSD. It is a song that never seems to get old, not just to music fans, but to DJ’s, TV and film producers, marketers and innumerable female lead singers in cover bands. I also think of her hauntingly beautiful voice on the song “Today” at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. There is a YouTube clip of that performance below. There is an even better one in the 1968 Monterrey Pop documentary (available on Max and Hulu).
Then there’s the drugs. LIkely they included LSD, quaaludes and marijuana, and most damagingly alcohol. Jefferson Airplane was not going to be one of those bands that would stay together for decades and Slick was a big part of the reason why, not so much because she supposedly had affairs with three different band members, but rather because of her alcoholism.
The guitarists Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy had a side project going which would become the band Hot Tuna. It started at times when Jeffereson Airplanke was inactive, once because Slick had throat surgery and another time when she was seriously injured in a car accident in 1971 while drag racing with Kaukonen. Hot Tuna went their separate ways in 1972 and in 1974, Jefferson Airplane was reconstituted as Jefferson Starship.
The end came on a tour of Germany in 1978. The oft-told story about that tour is that on the first night Slick was too inebriated to get on stage and the performance was canceled. She did get on stage two nights later and many wished she hadn’t. Her erratic behavior included taunting the German audience about losing World War II. I’ve read that she was fired by band member Paul Kantner, or that she was asked by Kantner to resign and did. Whatever, that was the end and Jefferson Starship continued the tour without her.
A story in Louder Sound describes another episode that same year:
“By early 1978, Grace Slick was no fun to be around. Appearing at a club version of The Gong Show in San Francisco, she’d abused the contestants, fought with her fellow judges, and was eventually dragged offstage after breaking some microphones. The audience, who’d also been baited by the Jefferson Starship singer, jeered as she was hauled into the wings. Later the same day, she was stopped by the California Highway Patrol and charged with drunk driving. She abused the arresting officers and spent the night locked up.”
Years later in a 2012 interview with Vanity Fair, a by now sober Slick described what she was like when she drank: ”I turn into a real, huge asshole. I’m having a great time being an asshole and everybody else is going, ‘Oh Jesus,’ and the cops are going, ‘Take her to jail.’”
Slick did briefly come back to a reconstituted version of the band which was now called Starship. They had a hit single “We Built This City” a song which Slick dismissively calls an “awful” song by a “sell-out” band.
In 1988 she put an end to her musical career. During an interview on VH1 she reasoned: “All rock-and-rollers over the age of 50 look stupid and should retire.” She is not going to be one of those 60’s, 70’s or 80’s rock stars who is out on the road playing decades old songs for the umpteenth time because they’re broke. “Well, if you’ve squandered your money and you have to play, be my guest. I haven’t, so I don’t,” she said.
Despite her erratic behavior in other ways, Slick, the daughter of an investment banker, not only didn’t squander her money, she also never lost control of her songs. As you can imagine, the royalties from “White Rabbit” alone are a gift that keeps on giving.
During her musical career she has been credited with a number of firsts. There is a claim that she was the first person to say “motherfucker” on TV while performing on the Dick Cavett Show in 1969. She also is said to be the first high profile rock and roller to admit to going to AA.
Her music career behind her, Slick has become a pretty accomplished artist. Some of her work has sold and she has had gallery shows, some of which she has attended. Her portraits of fellow Jefferson Airplaners, Kaukonen and Cassidy, grace the cover of the “Best of Hot Tuna” album. Her artwork includes some Alice in Wonderland sort of stuff and some portraits of musicians including Jerry Garcia, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Janice Joplin. You can see her work (and buy some) at http://www.graceslick.com.
She has not lost her social consciousness. A vegan, she is a member of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). She donated some of the royalties from “White Rabbit” to PETA’s campaign against Procter & Gamble’s use of rabbits and other animals in product testing.
She licensed the song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship to Chick-fil-A for a TV commercial. She then donated those royalties to Lambda Legal, a civil rights organization focusing on queer people and individuals living with AIDS/HIV. Chick-fil-A is known for having an owner who actively donates to organizations that oppose same sex marriage.
Whatever happened to Grace Slick? She survived all the sex, drugs and rock and roll. She is alive and relatively well despite some health problems. She is sober, still opinionated and still creative. And she is now 83.
-0-
Whatever Happened To?
(All images are public domain and were downloaded from Wikimedia Commons)
off the leash 