GRACE SLICK

'Grace Slick' (born October 30, 1939) is an American singer and songwriter, who was one of the lead singers of the rock groups Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, 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.

Contents

Early life

Career

Multiple arrests

Retired life

Artistic accomplishments

Trivia

External links

Early life

Slick was born in Evanston, a Chicago suburb, to Ivan W. Wing (of Norwegian-Swedish extraction) and his wife Virginia Barnett,[1] She attended Castilleja, a private, all-girls school in Palo Alto, California, near San Francisco. Following graduation, she attended Finch College in New York from 1956 to 1958 and the University of Miami in Coral Gables, 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. She also had a friendship, as well as a sexual relationship, with Jim Morrison. According to her biography, it began during their 1968 European tour but no real romance was involved. She was also good friends with The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia.
Slick was married twice, to Gerald "Jerry" Slick, a cinematographer, and then to Skip Johnson, a Jefferson Starship lighting designer. She has one daughter, China Wing Kantner (born January 25, 1971). China's father is former Jefferson Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner, with whom Grace had a relationship from 1969 through 1975.

Career

During her musical career, Slick was a member of several rock bands: The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, and Jefferson Airplane's successor bands, Jefferson Starship and Starship.
She was known not only 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 albums ''Surrealistic Pillow'' and ''Volunteers'' were ranked in the top 500 greatest albums of all time by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Their hit songs ''Somebody to Love'' and ''White Rabbit'' also appeared on Rolling Stone's top 500 greatest songs of all time.
Slick's solo albums include ''Manhole'', ''Dreams'', 'Software' and ''Welcome to the Wrecking Ball''. ''Dreams'', produced by Scott Zito, is thought by many critics to be Grace Slick's finest hour as a vocalist.
Alongside her close contemporary Janis Joplin, Slick was an important figure in the development of rock music in the late 1960s. Her distinctive vocal style has 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.

Multiple arrests

Slick has had several run-ins with the law. On four occasions, she was arrested for alcohol-related offenses, including driving under the influence and public drunkenness. In 1970, she was charged with driving under the influence while racing a car on the Golden Gate Bridge. She crashed the car onto the side rail but survived with only a concussion. In 1976, Grace infamously showed up drunk at a Jefferson Starship concert in Germany. She verbally attacked the crowd and attempted to sing. The next day she left the group. She was admitted to a detoxification facility at least once[2]. Slick has publicly acknowledged her alcoholism and commented 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 (after, according to her, the officer came onto her property without explanation). [3] A remarkably similar situation is described in Grace's song "Lawman", released on the "Bark" album in 1971.

Retired life

Slick left Starship (and the music business) in 1988 at age 48. During a 1998 interview with VH1 on a Behind the Music documentary featuring Jefferson Airplane, Slick stated that the main reason she retired from the music business was that "all rock-and-rollers over the age of 50 look stupid and should retire."
After retirement, she turned her attention to painting. She has done many renditions of her fellow '60s musicians such as Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia, and others. In 2000, she began displaying and selling her artwork. Although panned by most art critics, Slick continues to paint and sell her artwork.
She has generally stayed away from music, although she did perform on "Knock Me Out", a track from ''In Flight'', the 1996 solo debut from former 4 Non Blondes singer Linda Perry. The song also appeared on the soundtrack to ''.''
In a 2001 USA Today article, she said, "I'm in good health and people want to know what I do to be this way, ...I don't eat cheese, I don't eat duck — the point is I'm vegan..." [4]
In 1998 she released her autobiography, ''Grace Slick: Somebody to Love? A Rock and Roll Memoir''.
In 2006, Grace suffered from diverticulitis, a common digestive disorder particularly found in the large intestine. After initial surgery, she had a relapse requiring further surgery and a tracheotomy. She was placed in an induced coma for two months and then had to learn to walk again. [5]

Artistic accomplishments

Slick's longevity in the music business helped her earn a rather unusual distinction: the oldest female vocalist on a ''Billboard Hot 100'' number one single. "We Built This City" reached #1 on November 16, 1985, less than three weeks after her 46th birthday. The previous record was age 44 for Tina Turner, with 1984's number-one hit, "What's Love Got To Do With It". Turner (who is, coincidentally within a month of Slick's age) turned 45 two months after the song topped the charts. Slick broke her own record in Summer 1987 at age 47 when "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" topped the U.S. charts. Her record stood for 12 years, but was ultimately broken by Cher, who was 53 in 1999 when "Believe" hit number one.
Slick did vocals for Jazz Numbers, a series of animated shorts about the numbers 2 through 10, which aired on ''Sesame Street''. Jazz #2, for instance, appeared in the first episode of the first season of Sesame Street, November 10, 1969.

Trivia

★ Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 (as a member of Jefferson Airplane).

★ Ranked #20 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll.

★ Aside from singing, she also sometimes played piano, keyboards, and flute for the bands.

★ Was given the nickname "The Chrome Nun" by David Crosby. In fact, her nickname was used as part of the title of an album she made as a side project outside of Jefferson Airplane with band mates Paul Kantner and David Freiberg entitled "Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun".

★ The character Frankie in American Pop (1981) was based on her and Janis Joplin.

★ Slick is an alumna of Finch College along with former President Nixon's daughter Tricia Nixon. She was invited to a tea party for the alumnae at the White House in 1969. She invited radical Abbie Hoffman and had infamously planned to spike Richard Nixon's tea with LSD. The plan backfired when White House security recognized her and forced the pair to leave.

★ After the birth of her daughter, a rumor began that she had initially planned to call her god with a lower case g. Slick revealed that this was false and had sarcastically said it to a religious nurse at the hospital.

★ Before entering the music scene, Slick was a model for a short time in the early sixties.

★ Wrote the song White Rabbit in 30 minutes.

External links

★ Grace Slick biography at Jefferson Airplane Official Web Site.

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★ Grace Slick Fan Site.

★ Grace Slick biography at Gotarevolution.com.

★ Grace Slick biography at Frontrowgallery.com.

★ Grace Slick biography at Limelightagency.com.

★ Counterculture Meets Mall Culture for Grace Slick

★ Her MySpace page