Women's Suite

Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane celebrates 84th birthday

84 years old
I clearly remember working with Grace Slick (Jefferson Starship) at Criteria Recording Studios (Studio A) in N. Miami. Grace and I were watching the Dick Cavett show where she appeared on his show. Grace Slick attended Palo Alto Senior High School (near my current house). Grace Slick also attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. I grew up in Miami, what a small world.

Grace Barnett Slick (born October 30, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, artist, and former model, widely known in rock and roll history for her role in San Francisco’s burgeoning psychedelic music scene in the mid 1960s. Her music career spanned four decades, and involved the Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship, as well as a sporadic solo career. Slick provided vocals on a number of iconic songs, including “Somebody to Love”, “White Rabbit”, “We Built This City”and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”.

On a different day and show Grace Slick appeared on “The Mike Douglas Show” talking about her daughter and the only way her daughter could rebel was to go all mainstream and preppy”.


Grace Barnett Slick
(born October 30, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, artist, and former model, widely known in rock and roll history for her role in San Francisco’s burgeoning psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s. Her music career spanned four decades. She performed with The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship. She also had a sporadic solo career. Slick provided vocals on a number of iconic songs, including “Somebody to Love”, “White Rabbit”, “We Built This City”, and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”.

After retiring from music, Slick began painting and drawing. She has done many renditions of her fellow 1960s musicians, such as Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia, and others.

Slick has been married twice—to Gerald “Jerry” Slick, a cinematographer, from 1961 to 1971, then to Skip Johnson, a Jefferson Starship lighting designer, from 1976 to 1994. She has one child—a daughter, China Wing Kantner (born January 25, 1971). China’s father is the former Jefferson Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner, with whom Slick had a relationship from 1969 to 1975.

From 1958-1959, Grace Wing (Slick) was a student at The University of Miami.

Jefferson Airplane – Ever Wonder How Your Favorite Artists Came Up With Their Names?

Host Morgan Rees extemporaneously walks you through how some of your favorite artists came up with their stage names. – Jefferson Airplane.