Slick, Grace (1939–)
Slick, Grace (1939–)
American singer. Name variations: Jefferson Airplane; Starship. Born Grace Barnett Wing, Oct 30, 1939, in Chicago, IL; grew up in Palo Alto, CA; dau. of investment banker father and singer mother; attended Finch College and University of Miami; m. Jerry Slick, Aug 26, 1961 (div. 1971); m. Skip Johnson, Nov 29, 1976 (div. 1994); children: (with bandmate Paul Kantner) China Kantner (actress).
Called the high priestess of rock, formed The Great Society (1965) and played in San Francisco clubs; became the main vocalist for the musical group Jefferson Airplane (1966), had a smash album Surrealistic Pillow, and scored such hits as "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" (which she wrote); played piano, keyboards, and flute as well; with the band renamed Jefferson Starship, had hit "Miracles" (1975); went solo (1978); returned to the band, now named Starship (mid-1980s), and had hits "We Built This City" (1985), "Sara" (1986) and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (1987); left the band once more (1988); quit the music business and turned to painting; rendered bestselling portraits of rock stars, such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia. Inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1996).
See also autobiography, Somebody to Love? (1998).