Paul Kantner, the guitarist and co-founder of the influential ‘60s rock band Jefferson Airplane, died on Thursday. He was 74.
His longtime publicist, Cynthia Bowman, confirmed to the San Francisco Chronicle that he died of multiple organ failure and septic shock. his death came after a series of health problems, including a heart attack in March 2015. He had another heart attack earlier this week.
The Airplane was one of the major groups of the San Francisco music scene that came to dominate ‘60s music in the U.S. Their sound was defined by the vocals of Grace Slick, Marty Balin and Kantner, and the playing by guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady. They created two of songs that have come to define the sound of the era, “Somebody To Love” and “White Rabbit.” Both singles appeared on their 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow.
The group will finally receive a special Grammy Award for their contributions to music, the Recording Academy announced earlier this month.
In 1965, the group began when Balin and Kantner met and they were the first headliner at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium. They released their first album in 1966 and Slick joined for Surrealistic Pillow. They became frequent headliners at the major Summer of Love music festivals. Their 1969 album, Volunteers, featured many songs written by Kantner, including “Wooden Ships,” written with Stephen Stills and David Crosby.
As the group crumbled, Kantner and Slick stayed around to change the group to Jefferson Starship in 1974. He left the group in 1985.
Kantner, who was born in San Francisco, spent most of his life in San Francisco. According to the New York Times, he is survived by his daughter with Slick, China Isler. He is also survived by two sons, Gareth and Alexander.