Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing, October 30, 1939) is a rock music icon, serving as the lead singer of the rock groups Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, and also as a solo artist, for nearly three decades, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s.
Slick is considered to be one of the most important musicians in bringing the 1960s psychedelic rock to mainstream appeal. She is known for her witty, influential, thought provoking lyrics. Former lover and bandmate Paul Kantner once half-jokingly compared Slick to Oscar Wilde in her impact on music and modern culture.
Early life
Slick was born in Evanston, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, to Ivan W. Wing and his wife Virginia Barnett. She attended high school in Palo Alto, California, near San Francisco. She then attended two universities, Finch College in New York from 1956 to 1958 and the University of Miami in Florida from 1957 to 1959.
Slick maintained a friendship with Janis Joplin, that began early in her music career and lasted until Joplin's death by drug overdose on October 4, 1970, and a friendship and a brief romantic relationship with Jim Morrison, who also died of a probable drug overdose on July 3, 1971.
Slick was married twice, to Gerald "Jerry" Slick, a cinematographer, and to Skip Johnson, a Jefferson Starship lighting designer. She has one daughter, China Kantner (born January 25, 1971), who was fathered by yet a third man, Jefferson Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner, whom Grace had a relationship with during the late 1960s and early 1970s, but never married.
Rock star
During her musical career, Slick was a member of three rock bands, The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, and its successor band, Jefferson Starship.
Slick was known for her provocative lyrics, but also for her alcoholism and public persona. Notable songs that she recorded with Jefferson Airplane/Starship include "White Rabbit", "Somebody to Love", "We Built This City", "Volunteers", "Lather", and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". Jefferson Airplane's album, Volunteers, was ranked one of the top 500 albums of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.
Slick's solo albums include Manhole, Dreams, and Welcome to the Wrecking Ball.
Alongside her close contemporary Janis Joplin, Slick was an important but much-underrated figure in the development of rock music in the late 1960s. Her distinctive vocal style exerted a definite influence on other female performers, such as Sandy Denny and Dolores O'Riordan. Like Joplin, Slick's uncompromising persona and powerful voice helped to open up new modes of expression for female performers, giving a new legitimacy to the role of the female lead singer in the male-dominated world of rock music.
At some point during her star years, Grace claims to have had a one-night stand with Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors.
Slick left Starship in 1988 at age 48. She is now a very active member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
At Woodstock: Calling for a "revolution"
Slick and Jefferson Airplane's August, 1969 performance of their song, "Volunteers," at Woodstock is, to this day, considered one of the most electrifying moments in the history of rock music and one of the most memorable songs of the three-day Woodstock festival.
With lines such as, "One generation got old / One generation got soul / This generation got no destination to hold, pick up the cry," the song has been interpreted as challenging the youth of the United States to rise up in opposition to their government. Songwriter Marty Balin, however, states that he wrote the song after seeing Volunteers of America collecting garbage outside his window.
Multiple arrests
Slick has had numerous run-ins with the law. On four separate occasions, she was arrested for alcohol-related offenses, including driving under the influence and public drunkenness. She was admitted to a substance-abuse rehabilitation facility on at least one occasion. She has also commented publicly on her use of LSD.
She was reportedly arrested in 1994 for assault with a deadly weapon, after pointing an unloaded gun at a police officer[1], reminiscent of the song "Law Man" on the Bark album released in 1971.
Retired Life
After retiring in 1989 from the music business, Grace turned her attention to painting. She has done many renditions of mostly her fellow 60s musicians such as Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia as well as many others. In 2000, she began showing and selling her artwork, some pieces going for fairly high prices.
She has generally stayed away from music, although she did sing on one song on the soundtrack to The Crow: City of Angels. The song was a duet with Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes and was called "Knock Me Out."
She released her autobiography, Grace Slick: Somebody to Love? a Rock and Roll Memoir, in 1998.
Now in her mid-60s, she currently lives, and paints, in Malibu, California.
Trivia
Grace's longevity in the music business helped her earn a rather unusual distinction-the oldest female vocalist on a US Billboard Hot 100 number one single. "We Built This City" reached #1 on November 16, 1985, less than three weeks after Grace's 46th birthday, barely squeezing out Tina Turner's record from the previous year. The previous record was age 45 for Tina Turner, with 1984's number one hit, "What's Love Got To Do With It." Turner turned 46 two months after the song topped the charts. In summer, 1987, as "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" topped the US charts, Grace, at age 47, broke her own record. Slick's record stood for 12 years, but was ultimately broken by Cher, who was 53 in 1999 when her song "Believe" was released and hit number one.
Despite being an icon of the liberal 60's counter-culture, Slick describes herself as a "life-long Republican".
See also
- Volunteers, the album by Jefferson Airplane.
External links
- jeffersonairplane.com: Biography.
- White Rabbits Grace Slick tribute site.
- Gotarevolution.com, a Jefferson Airplane biography.
- God Slick, Snopes.com's page about the urban legend of Slick's daughter's "original" name.
- Grace Slick profile, NNDB.