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Starring at the most iconic rock events of the 1960s - the Woodstock, Monterey and Altamont festivals - Jefferson Airplane had an indelible influence on the flower power decade as pioneers of psychedelia. Emerging from the buoyant San Francisco folk scene, they were formed by Marty Balin, who was inspired by the folk-rock breakthrough of the Byrds. Their original lead singer was Signe Toly Anderson and they made their debut at The Matrix, San Francisco in 1965, but went through various personnel before recruiting Grace Slick from another band The Great Society as lead singer and focal point. Their first single was It's No Secret, followed by debut album Jefferson Airplane Takes Off in 1966. They quickly became stars on the booming San Francisco rock scene and found international fame with second album Surrealistic Pillow, reaching Number 3 in the US and which remained in the album chart for a year and sold over a million copies. It also provided two major hit singles White Rabbit and Somebody To Love, both becoming flagships of the new psychedelic movement. Third album After Bathing At Baxters was less successful, although their fourth Crown Of Creation restored them to the US album Top 10 but, while their runaway success was rubber-stamped by appearances at all the big festivals, cracks were already showing. The writing was on the wall when founder Marty Balin quit in 1971 and Grace Slick was seriously injured in a road crash. They released new album Bark later that year and then recorded their final album Long John Silver in 1972 as they disappeared to work on other projects, including splinter group Jefferson Starship.Artist biography compiled by BDS/West 10. All rights reserved
