Grace Slick facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Grace Slick
c. 1967
Born	Grace Barnett Wing (1939-10-30) October 30, 1939 (age 85) Highland Park, Illinois, U.S.
Other names	Gracie The Chrome Nun The Acid Queen
Occupation	Painter musician (retired)
Years active	1964–1990 (music career) 1995–present (painting career)
Musical career
Genres	progressive rock blues rock pop
Instruments	Vocals piano keyboards recorder
Labels	RCA

Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American painter and retired musician. Her music career lasted for four decades. She was a very important person in the San Francisco music scene from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s.

Grace Slick first performed with a band called The Great Society. She became famous as the lead singer of Jefferson Airplane. Later, she also sang with the spin-off bands Jefferson Starship and Starship.

Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane became very popular with their 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow. This album had two top-ten hits: "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love". With Starship, she sang on two songs that reached number one: "We Built This City" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now".

Grace Slick released four solo albums. She stopped making music in 1990. However, she still creates art. In 1996, she was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Jefferson Airplane.

Grace Slick's Early Life and School

Grace Barnett Wing was born on October 30, 1939, in Highland Park, Illinois. This is a suburb near Chicago. Her parents were Ivan Wilford Wing and Virginia Wing. They met while studying at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her younger brother, Chris, was born in 1949.

Her father worked in banking, so her family moved many times when she was a child. She lived in the Chicago area, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Her family finally settled in Palo Alto, California in the early 1950s. Grace went to Palo Alto Senior High School. Then she moved to Castilleja School, which was a private school for girls in Palo Alto.

After finishing high school, she attended Finch College in New York City from 1957 to 1958. She also went to the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, from 1958 to 1959.

Grace Slick's Music Career

Before becoming a musician, Grace Slick worked as a model for three years. She also started writing music. She even wrote a song for a short film made by her husband, Jerry Slick.

Joining The Great Society (1965–1966)

The Great Society in 1965: Grace is carried by her then–husband, Jerry Slick. His brother, Darby, is at right.

In August 1965, Grace Slick read about a new band called Jefferson Airplane. She saw them perform live and was inspired. Soon after, she formed her own band called The Great Society. The band included Grace (vocals, guitar), her husband Jerry Slick (drums), Jerry's brother Darby Slick (lead guitar), and David Miner (bass guitar).

The Great Society played their first show on October 15, 1965. Grace Slick soon wrote the song "White Rabbit". This song became a favorite among their fans. Grace Slick also sang and played guitar, piano, and recorder for the band. They recorded some songs, including "Somebody to Love".

Singing with Jefferson Airplane (1966–1972)

In 1966, the singer for Jefferson Airplane, Signe Toly Anderson, left the band. Jack Casady asked Grace Slick to join. Grace said she joined because Jefferson Airplane was very professional. With Grace Slick as their new singer, Jefferson Airplane started recording new music.

Their album Surrealistic Pillow had new versions of "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love". Both songs became top 10 hits. Jefferson Airplane became one of the most popular bands in the country. Grace Slick became one of the most famous female rock musicians of her time.

Jefferson Starship and Solo Albums (1970–1984)

Slick in 1976

Slick and Kantner with Jefferson Starship

After some members left Jefferson Airplane, Grace Slick formed Jefferson Starship with Paul Kantner and others. She also started releasing her own solo albums. These included Manhole, Dreams, Welcome to the Wrecking Ball!, and Software.

Her album Dreams was very personal. It was even nominated for a Grammy Award. Grace Slick was given the nickname "The Chrome Nun" by musician David Crosby. This nickname was used in the title of an album she made in 1973 with Paul Kantner and David Freiberg: Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun.

Starship and Jefferson Airplane Reunion (1984–1989)

In the 1980s, Grace Slick was the only original Jefferson Airplane member left in the band Starship. The band had three number-one hits: "We Built This City", "Sara", and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". Even with this success, Grace Slick has said she did not enjoy this time or the music. She left Starship in 1988.

In 1989, Grace Slick and her old Jefferson Airplane bandmates got back together. They released a new album and went on a successful tour before the band split up again.

Retirement and Art Career (1990–Present)

After the Jefferson Airplane reunion, Grace Slick stopped making music. In a 1998 interview, she said she retired because she believed rock musicians over 50 look "stupid" and should stop performing. She felt that rock and roll is for young people to express their feelings.

Even though she retired, Grace Slick has appeared with Jefferson Starship a couple of times. One time was in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks. She came on stage wearing a black covering, then took it off to show an American flag. She said her outfit was about freedom, not politics.

Slick in 2010 with author Phil Konstantin

After leaving music, Grace Slick started painting and drawing. She has always loved art since she was a child. She has painted many of her fellow musicians from the 1960s, like Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia. Since 2000, she has been showing and selling her artwork. She often attends her art shows across the United States.

In 1998, Grace Slick published her autobiography, Somebody to Love? A Rock and Roll Memoir. She also narrated an audio version of the book. In 2001, she mentioned in an article that she is mostly vegan for her health.

In 2006, Grace Slick had serious health issues and needed surgery. She was in a coma for two months and had to learn to walk again. In 2010, she helped write a song called "Edge of Madness" to raise money for cleaning up the BP oil spill. She also sang background vocals on the song.

Grace Slick still makes occasional appearances and does radio interviews. She accepted Jefferson Airplane's Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2016. In 2022, she was there for the unveiling of the band's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Grace Slick's Personal Life

Grace Slick was married to Gerald "Jerry" Slick from 1961 to 1971. Then she married Skip Johnson from 1976 to 1994. She has a daughter named China Wing Kantner, who was born on January 25, 1971. China's father is Paul Kantner, the guitarist for Jefferson Airplane. Grace and Paul were in a relationship from 1969 to 1975.

Grace Slick's Visual Art

Slick in 2008

After retiring from music, Grace Slick began drawing and painting animals. This made her happy during a difficult time in her life. When she was asked to write her memoir, her agent saw her art. He suggested she draw portraits of other rock-and-roll musicians for the book. She agreed and enjoyed it.

Her paintings of Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady were used for the cover of the 1998 album The Best of Hot Tuna. Grace Slick has been drawing and painting since she was a child. However, she didn't do much art while she was busy with her music career. One exception is the cover art for her 1974 solo album, Manhole, which she signed "Child Type Odd Art by Grace".

Grace Slick uses different styles and materials in her art. She uses acrylic paints, canvas, pen, ink, scratchboard, pastels, and pencil. Many of her works mix different materials. Her styles include themes from Alice in Wonderland, realistic portraits of musicians, and drawings of animals.

Her most popular prints and original artworks are her different versions of the White Rabbit and the portraits of her music friends. In 2006, her Alice in Wonderland art became so popular that she partnered with a company to release stationery and journals with the Wonderland theme.

Grace Slick doesn't seem to mind what critics say about her art. She sees her art as another way to express herself, just like music. It allows her to create without the demands of performing on stage or traveling constantly. She attends many of her art gallery shows across the United States.

Grace Slick's Legacy

Grace Slick is famous as a rock and roll singer. She was one of the first female rock stars, along with Janis Joplin. She played a big part in how rock music developed in the late 1960s. Her unique singing style and strong stage presence influenced other female singers like Stevie Nicks and Patti Smith.

Between 1985 and 1999, Grace Slick was the oldest female singer to have a number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "We Built This City" reached number one in November 1985, shortly after her 46th birthday. She broke her own record in April 1987 at age 47 when "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" topped the US charts. Her record lasted for 12 years until Cher broke it in 1999.

Grace Slick also did voices for "Jazz Numbers," a series of animated shorts about numbers for Sesame Street. She was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1981 for her solo album Dreams. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a member of Jefferson Airplane.

In 1993, she narrated a short story by Stephen King called "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" for an audiobook. In 1999, VH1 ranked her number 20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll.

In 2017, Grace Slick allowed the Starship song "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" to be used in a TV commercial. However, because she disagreed with the company's views on same-sex marriage, she gave all the money from that deal to Lambda Legal. This organization works to support the civil rights of LGBTQ people.

Discography

Solo Albums

Collaborative Albums

Other Appearances

See also

In Spanish: Grace Slick para niños