School of Rock
Random article All articles A–Z
2 languages

Grace Slick

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Grace Slick was actually called Grace Wing and was born in 1939 in Illinois. Her father was a banker, her mother had once sung. The family moved to California, where Grace grew up in Palo Alto. She studied art in New York and Miami and then worked as a model for several years. In 1965 she saw a performance in San Francisco by the newly founded band Jefferson Airplane. She then started a band of her own, The Great Society, with her husband Jerry Slick and his brother Darby. Shortly afterwards she wrote the song White Rabbit, by her own account in an hour.

Music and breakthrough

At the end of 1966 Jefferson Airplane asked her to be their new singer. With her on board the band took on a more psychedelic sound. The album Surrealistic Pillow (1967) featured new recordings of White Rabbit and of Somebody to Love, written by Darby Slick. Both songs became big hits. Jefferson Airplane became one of America's most popular bands, and Slick one of the best-known women in rock. She later sang in Jefferson Starship and Starship, with whom she had number one hits in the 1980s with We Built This City and Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.

Influence

Slick was a figurehead of the psychedelic scene in San Francisco. In White Rabbit she uses the story of Alice in Wonderland to sing about the effects of mind-expanding drugs. In 1990 she gave up music; rock, she felt, was for young people. After that she turned to painting.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane and notice how it is built. Hear how the song begins softly, like a kind of march, and grows steadily louder and fuller, until Grace Slick's voice bursts out at the end.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

See also

Categories: Artists