Jefferson Starship

As Jefferson Airplane imploded in the early 1970s, Paul Kantner and Grace Slick started working on a sci-fi concept album called Blows Against the Empire, about a group of people escaping Earth in a hijacked starship. Boldly experimental for the time, it resulted in them forming the Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra and two more albums, Sunfighter and Baron Von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun. This eventually evolved into Jefferson Starship, who released their first album Dragon Fly in 1974. It helped restore Kantner and Slick to the forefront of a fast-changing rock world, resulting in hit albums Spitfire (1976) and Earth (1978). Heavy drinking took its toll, however, and their live shows became erratic, although they remained a popular act. The departure of Paul Kanter in 1984 triggered a legal battle over the band's name, which they then abbreviated to Starship, scoring two Number 1 singles in 1985 with “We Built This City” and “Sara” and a Top 10 album, Knee Deep in the Hoopla. Starship had another Number 1 in 1987 with the epic “Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now” from the movie Mannequin, but Grace Slick left the following year to join the reunited Jefferson Airplane. They split in 1990, but two years later Kantner launched Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation. It proved hugely popular and, despite Kantner’s death in 2016, continues to be a successful act. Now helmed by lead singer Cathy Richardson, who joined the group in 2008, they have since released another album entitled Mother of the Sun (2020), which featured songwriting contributions from Slick.

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