Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albums, and one gold-selling compilation. The album Red Octopus went double-platinum and was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1975. The band went through several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the Jefferson Starship name. The band name was retired in 1984, but it was picked up again in 1992 by a revival of the group led by Paul Kantner, which continued after his death in 2016.
The group was formed by former Jefferson Airplane members Kantner and Grace Slick, and evolved from several solo albums they had recorded. They were joined by David Freiberg, Craig Chaquico, John Barbata, Pete Sears, and Papa John Creach. Former Airplane frontman Marty Balin subsequently joined the group in 1975, and the following year's album Spitfire was a top five hit. Slick and Balin both left the group in 1978, leaving the remaining members to recruit Mickey Thomas as their replacement. In 1981 Slick rejoined the group, which continued with minor chart success. Kantner quit in 1984 and took legal action towards using the name; the remaining members became Starship. Kantner reformed the group as Jefferson Starship: The Next Generation in 1992, which toured regularly throughout that decade and into the 21st century. After Kantner's death, the group continued with new members. Craig Chaquico filed a lawsuit against them in 2016 for continuing to use the name, and the suit was subsequently settled.
History 1970–1974: Origins In 1970, while Jefferson Airplane was on break from touring, singer-guitarist Paul Kantner recorded Blows Against the Empire. It is a concept album featuring an ad hoc group of musicians (centered on Kantner, Grace Slick, Joey Covington, and Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane; David Crosby and Graham Nash; and Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann) credited on the LP as Paul Kantner and "Jefferson Starship", marking the first use of that name. This agglomeration was informally known as the Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra, a moniker later used on a Kantner album in the early 1980s.
On Blows Against the Empire, Kantner and Slick sang about a group of people escaping Earth in a hijacked starship. In 1971, the album was nominated for the prestigious science fiction prize, the Hugo Award, a rare honor for a musical recording. Kantner and Slick were a couple during this period. Slick was pregnant during the recording of the album. Their daughter, China, was born shortly thereafter.
Kantner and Slick with the Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra released two follow-up albums: Sunfighter, an environmentalism-tinged album released in 1971 to celebrate China's birth, and 1973's Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun, titled after the nicknames David Crosby had given to the couple. Bassist/keyboardist/vocalist David Freiberg was given equal billing alongside Kantner and Slick on the latter album. A founding member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Freiberg had known and played with Kantner on the folk circuit in the early 1960s and sang background vocals on Blows Against the Empire. Following a marijuana arrest that resulted in his departure from Quicksilver in 1971, he joined Jefferson Airplane as a vocalist for their 1972 tour, documented on the live album Thirty Seconds Over Winterland (1973).
Kantner was introduced to the teenage guitarist Craig Chaquico through his friend and fellow musician, Jack Traylor, during this time. Chaquico, a high school English student of Traylor's and a member in his band Steelwind, played guitar on the song "Earth Mother" from Sunfighter. Chaquico would go on to perform with Kantner and Slick on their subsequent album collaborations, then with Jefferson Starship, and finally with Starship until 1990.
Early in 1974, Slick released Manhole, her first solo album. Appearing along with Slick on Manhole were Kantner, Freiberg, Chaquico, Jack Casady, David Crosby, and the London Symphony Orchestra. It was on that album that Kantner, Slick, and Freiberg next worked with bassist and keyboard player Pete Sears (who had first played on Papa John Creach's first solo album). Sears, was co-producing a Kathi McDonald album in the same studio. Sears wrote the music to Slick's lyrics for the song "Better Lying Down," and also played bass on the song "Epic #38". It was during this session at Wally Heider studios in San Francisco that Kantner and Slick first approached Sears about playing in what would eventually become Jefferson Starship. Sears would eventually join Jefferson Starship in June 1974, replacing Peter Kaukonen.
In early 1974, with guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bass player Jack Casady having moved on to their band Hot Tuna full-time, Kantner decided to put together a touring band without them. The musicians on Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun formed the core of a new lineup that was formally reborn as Jefferson Starship. They appropriated the name from Kantner's Blows Against the Empire, with manager Bill Thompson convincing the group that keeping the connection to Jefferson Airplane made sense from a business standpoint. It included the other five remaining members of Jefferson Airplane, including Kantner on rhythm guitar and vocals; Slick on vocals and percussion, David Freiberg on vocals and keyboards, John Barbata, who had played with the Turtles and Crosby, Stills and Nash, on drums and Papa John Creach, from Hot Tuna, on electric violin. Jorma Kaukonen's brother, Peter (who had appeared on the albums Blows Against the Empire and Sunfighter), was on bass. On lead guitar was Craig Chaquico who had played on three of Kantner and Slick's solo albums, as well as in the band Steelwind. The band began rehearsals in January 1974 and opened its first tour in Chicago on March 19. By April, it was decided that the band would go into the studio to record an album. British veteran Pete Sears, who had worked on Slick's solo album, Manhole, and played with Rod Stewart, was selected to replace Peter Kaukonen as the band's bass player.
1974–1978: Balin on board and commercial apogee
In 1974, after touring as "Jefferson Starship," Kantner, Slick, Freiberg, Chaquico, Pete Sears, Papa John Creach, and John Barbata recorded the album Dragon Fly. Jorma Kaukonen's brother Peter had played bass during the group's spring tour in 1974, but was replaced by Pete Sears who, like Freiberg, played bass and keyboards. Kantner collaborated with Marty Balin on the song "Caroline" during the recording sessions, for which Balin sang vocals on the album. Dragon Fly was certified gold, and included the single "Ride the Tiger" (No. 84 US Billboard) and its B-side "Hyperdrive". Balin then appeared on-stage with the band to perform the song "Caroline" for a show at the Winterland ballroom in November 1974.
Their followup album, 1975's Red Octopus, had even greater success. Marty Balin, who had contributed and sung the ballad "Caroline" on the previous album, officially returned to the Jefferson fold as a full-time member in January 1975 and stayed with the group for nearly the remainder of the decade. The Balin penned single "Miracles” peaked at No. 3 on the chart, and along with the single “Play on Love” (No. 49 US Billboard Chart), helped to propel the album to eventual multiple-platinum status and topping the Billboard 200 chart. It would be the biggest selling album of the band's career. Creach quietly left the group soon after in August 1975 to pursue a solo career.
The next album, Spitfire, was released in June 1976 and went platinum. It spent six weeks at No. 3 on the Billboard charts, and included the singles "With Your Love" (No. 12 US Billboard Chart) and "St. Charles" (No. 64 US Billboard Chart). Regardless of this success, the band considered the album's sales to be relatively disappointing compared to its predecessor and requested an audit from RCA Records, distributor of their Grunt label. RCA subsequently put a reported $500,000 into the next Jefferson Starship project. Earth was released in February 1978 and also went platinum. The album featured the singles "Count on Me" (No. 8 US Billboard Chart), "Runaway" (No. 12 US Billboard Chart), and "Crazy Feelin'" (No. 54 US Billboard Chart). Tours of the U.S. and Europe would soon follow.
Balin's reluctance to tour had kept the band off the road for over a year, and Slick's alcoholism increasingly became a problem, which led to two consecutive nights of disastrous concerts in West Germany in June 1978. On the first night, the band was scheduled to play at the Loreley Amphitheatre, on the bill with Leo Kottke and the Atlanta Rhythm Section, but Slick was unable to perform and the show was cancelled. The show was rescheduled for July 2, but the audience were unhappy with this and began rioting, destroying or stealing some of the band's gear. The band acquired replacement gear for the following day's show in Hamburg, which was marred by a drunken Slick continually swearing and insulting the audience throughout the show. She repeatedly asked "Who won the war?", and implied that all Germans were responsible for the wartime atrocities. Slick later described her behavior as a deliberate provocation to force her departure. Kantner subsequently asked for Slick's resignation from the band, and she left the group at this time.
Towards the end of 1978, a Jefferson Starship that was now without Grace Slick but still including Marty Balin recorded the single "Light the Sky on Fire" (No. 66 US Billboard Chart) for television's Star Wars Holiday Special. It was released as a promotional tie-in to the special (backed with "Hyperdrive" from Dragon Fly), and was also included as a bonus with their greatest hits album Gold (1979), which highlighted their work from 1974's Dragon Fly to 1978's Earth. In October 1978, Marty Balin left the group, leaving the band without a lead singer. That same month, John Barbata was seriously injured in a car accident that forced him to drop out of the group.
1979–1984: Changing personnel and sound
In early 1979, the band regrouped. Barbata was replaced on drums by Aynsley Dunbar, who had previously played with Journey, in January 1979. Mickey Thomas (who had sung lead on Elvin Bishop's "Fooled Around and Fell in Love") was invited to audition and then joined the group in April 1979.
In 1979, the band released their first album without Marty Balin or Grace Slick, the gold-selling Freedom at Point Zero. The album was produced by Ron Nevison, who would also produce two of the band's following three albums. The single "Jane" (Freiberg, McPherson, Chaquico and Kantner) peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent three weeks at No. 6 on the Cash Box Top 100. The new lineup toured, augmented by saxophonist Steve Schuster. Schuster, along with horn player David Farey, had previously played on Jefferson Starship's 1978 tour, and he had also appeared on Freedom at Point Zero.