Jefferson Airplane co-founder Paul Kantner dies

The founding member of psychedelic rock group Jefferson Airplane, as well as the guiding force behind Jefferson Starship has died from organ failure at the age of 74. Kantner is best known for his iconic role and part in Jefferson Airplane, and later, Jefferson Starship.

“Although he never wrote or sang lead on a hit single, Paul Kantner had the greatest impact on Jefferson Airplane/Starship of any member”, Greg Gildersleeve writes on the Airplane’s website. One of the band’s earliest performances outside of California was at the Kitsilano Theatre.

Few bands were so identified with San Francisco or so well-embodied the idealism and hedonism of the late 1960s as Jefferson Airplane.

The Airplane advocated sex, psychedelic drugs, rebellion and a communal lifestyle, operating out of an eccentric, Colonial Revival house near Haight-Ashbury.

Its members supported various political and social causes, tossed out LSD at concerts and played at the Monterey and Woodstock festivals. Jefferson Airplane’s number one song, according to Ultimate Classic Rock, was their hit song Somebody to Love.

Kantner’s health had begun to decline previous year following a heart attack although he recovered sufficiently to rejoin Jefferson Starship on tour.

Jefferson Airplane was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, and this spring, the band will receive a Grammy award for lifetime achievement. They recruited some other talents – most notably, guitarist Jorma Kaukonen – and the Jefferson Airplane made its public debut on August 13, 1965 at the soon-to-be-legendary Matrix club in San Francisco.

Paul Lorin Kantner was born on March 17, 1941 in San Francisco. Kaukonen and Casady founded the blues group Hot Tuna, and Balin, the band’s estranged original leader, also left. Kantner and Slick were a couple for several years.

Vancouver was lucky enough to see the Jefferson Airplane numerous times during the group’s initial ascent. He is survived by his three children, China, Gareth and Alexander. Kantner was considered the intellectual representative for the group. It featured such anthems as “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit” and became one of the de facto soundtracks to the Summer of Love in 1967.