Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Jefferson Airplane

Artist:Jefferson Airplane

Song:Somebody To Love

Album:Hits

Jefferson Airplane was probably the first group from the San Francisco psychedelic scene of the 60s to get national attention. Later on they morphed into a more mainstream group. The group satarted with Marty Balin. He was singing in a San Francisco folk group called The Town Criers in 1964 when the popularity of The Beatles convinced him that the merging of folk and rock was the way to go. His first recruit for his new group was guitarist Paul Kantner. He recommended guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. Balin wanted a female singer to complement him and Signe Toly joined along with bassist Bob Harvey & drummer Jerry Peloquin. The group name was based on Kaukonen's nickname of Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane because of his blues style of playing guitar. The group started playing San Francisco clubs in 1965. Peloquin & Harvey were replaced by Skip Spence & Jack Casady. Toly was married and was now Signe Anderson. The group signed with RCA. Then Anderson had a child and Spence was replaced by Spencer Dryden. They released their first LP Jefferson Airplane Takes Of in 1966. Anderson had to leave the group and Grace Slick came over from The Great Society. They had released one record and then split. She joined up and contributed the song White Rabbit. Somebody To Love was written by her brother-in-law Darby Slick. He was guitarist for The Great Society. The LP Surrealistic Pillow was released in Feb. 1967 and Somebody To Love was the first single to feature Slick as lead vocalist. It was their biggest hit and reached #5 on the singles chart. Jefferson Airplane continued to have success over the next couple of years. Internal bickering eventually killed the group and then it somehow turned into the more mainstream Jefferson Starship. This comp Hits covers Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship & Starship. I never cared for the later groups but the original Jefferson Airplane still sound great. Here's Jefferson Airplane performing White Rabbit & Somebody To Love on the Smothers Bros. Comedy Hour in 1967.