Grace Barnett Wing was born in Highland Park, Illinois, on October
30, 1939. Her father, Ivan W, Wing, was Scandinavian (Swedish & Norwegian)
and her mother, Virginia Barnett, was a lineal descendant of the passengers of
the Mayflower, the ship that transported the Pilgrims from England to the New
World in 1620.
Her father was an investment banker who was transferred several
times when Grace was a child -- from Chicago to Los Angeles to San Francisco,
and finally settling in Palo Alto, California, near San Francisco, in the
1950s.
In 1961, Grace Wing married Gerald (Jerry) Slick and became Grace
Slick, a very groovy soul.
Grace worked as a model at an I. Magnin Department Store for three
years and also started composing music.
In 1965, Grace Slick (guitar, vocals), Jerry Slick (drums),
Jerry's brother Darby Slick (lead guitar) and David Miner (bass guitar) formed
a band called The Great Society. In October of 1965, the band made its debut at
a venue called the Coffee Gallery.
Soon thereafter, Grace composed the song, WHITE RABBIT. She
claimed to have written it in less than an hour. It would eventually become one
of the greatest songs of the 1960s -- a reflection of the affects of
psychedelic drugs, prevalent in the hippie movement in the San Francisco bay
area.
WHITE
RABBIT
One pill makes you
larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall
And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Call Alice
When she was just small
When the men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know
When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head
Feed your head
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall
And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Call Alice
When she was just small
When the men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know
When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head
Feed your head
(Lyrics by Grace Slick)
Grace would later proclaim "feed your head" meant to
read a book.
Later that year, Jefferson Airplane's singer left the band to
raise her child, whereupon Grace Slick was asked to join the band. Once Grace
was aboard, the band became more psychedelic. Soon, WHITE RABBIT and SOMEBODY
TO LOVE became Top Ten singles.
Grace Slick was definitely a force of nature.
- On The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour TV show in 1968, Grace performed CROWN OF CREATION in black-face and ended it with a Black Panther fist.
- In 1969, appearing on the Dick Cavett Show, she became the first person to utter the word "motherf++ker" on live TV.
After Jefferson Airplane disbanded, Grace formed Jefferson
Starship and cut many albums, including:
- Manhole
- Dreams
- Welcome to the Wrecking Ball
- Software
The album, Dreams, was nominated for a Grammy Award and Grace was
nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Rock Female Vocalist, for her solo on the
album, in 1981.
David Crosby, founding member of both, THE BYRDS and CROSBY,
STILLS & NASH, nicknamed Grace "The Chrome Nun" -- Crosby went by
the nickname "Baron von Tollbooth" -- in 1973, Grace, along with Paul
Kanter and David Freiberg made an album titled BARON VON TOLLBOOTH & THE
CHROME NUN.
Grace retired from the music business in 1989.
In a 1998 interview, Grace stated, "All rock-and-rollers over
the age of 50 look stupid and should retire." And in a 2007 interview, she
reiterated, "You can do jazz, classical, blues, opera, country until
you're 150, but rap and rock-and-roll are really a way for young people to get
that anger out -- it's silly to perform a song that has no relevance to the
present or expresses feelings you no longer have."
However, Grace did come out of retirement a couple of times.
- In 1995, she joined the restructured Jefferson Starship to play a gig at the House of Blues.
- In late 2001, after the Twin Towers were destroyed in NYC, Grace appeared on stage covered, head to toe, in a black burqa -- then removed the burqa to reveal a an American flag and the words "F++k Fear" -- her explanation, "The outfit is not about Islam, it's about repression; this flag is not about politics, it's about liberty."
Grace and Tricia Nixon, daughter of President Nixon, were both
alumni of Finch College. In 1969, Grace was invited to a tea party for the
alumni of Finch College at the White house. She invited political activist,
Abbie Hoffman, as her escort, whereby they planned to spike the President's tea
with 600 micrograms of LSD. However, the plan was thwarted because the White
House security detail recognized Grace, who had been placed on an FBI
blacklist. The original invitation was addresses to Grace Wing, Grace's name
prior to marrying Jerry Slick.
In 1971, while racing with a friend, Grace crashed her car into a
wall near the Golden Gate Bridge, suffering a concussion.
During her time as part of Jefferson Airplane, Grace had been
arrested at least four times for what she referred to as "drunk
mouth" and "TUI" (Talking Under the Influence).
One incident occurred when she had an argument with
current-partner, Paul Kantner, whereupon Kantner removed the keys from the
ignition and threw them out the car window onto someone's front lawn. As Grace
was crawling around on the lawn, a police officer showed up. Apparently the
drunk mouth (TUI) of Grace led to an arrest.
Another incident occurred when Grace was sitting against a tree
trunk in the woods of Marin County, drinking wine and reading poetry. A police
officer arrived and engaged in a conversation whereupon drunk mouth (TUI) once
again got her arrested.
In 1994, Grace was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon after
pointing an unloaded gun at a police officer. Her excuse was that the police
officer had trespassed onto her property without permission or explanation.
After retiring, after a house fire, after divorce, Grace began
painting and drawing for pleasure.
At some point, her agent approached Grace about writing a memoir,
which eventually became SOMEBODY TO LOVE?
A ROCK-AND-ROLL MEMOIR. When her agent noticed some of Grace's artwork, he
prompted her to do portraits of various Rock-n-Roll contemporaries, to be
included in the memoir.
Grace eventually agreed. Her color renditions of Jerry Garcia,
Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin became part of the memoir publication -- many
other Grace Slick sketches and paintings were also included in the book. Some
of her works also became record album covers.
She continued with her artwork, much of which is "mixed
media." She uses canvas, acrylic paints, ink, pen and pencil. Her
best-selling originals and prints are portraits of those in the music industry,
various renditions of White Rabbit and "Alice in Wonderland" themes,
all of which led to a partnership with Dark Horse Comics, resulting in the
release of journals and stationary with the "Wonderland" theme.
Grace visits up to 30 art gallery shows per year, across the
country, where her work is displayed. She claims to enjoy it, except for the
travelling. Those who purchase one of her works get a personalized autograph on
the back of the piece and get to have a photo with her.
Grace Slick is the oldest female vocalist on a Billboard Hot 100,
chart-topping single. Her song, WE BUILT THE CITY, reached number one in
November of 1985, when she was 46 years old. The previous record was Tina
Turner, at age 44, with her song WHAT'S LOVE GO TO DO WITH IT. In 1999, Grace's
record was broken by Cher, at age 53, when her song, BELIEVE, became number
one.
In 1996, Grace Slick was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame as a member of Jefferson Airplane.
In 1999, she was ranked number 20 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of
Rock N Roll.
Yes, indeed -- Grace Slick is a very groovy soul.
Feed your head
Feed your head
___________
Quote for the Day -- “No matter how big or soft or warm your bed
is, you still have to get out of it.” Grace Slick
___________
Bret Burquest is the author of 11 books. He lives in the Ozark
Mountains with a few dogs and where "feed your head" means to nibble
on some food.
___________
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