Skip Spence facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alexander "Skip" Spence
Spence in 1966
Background information
Birth name	Alexander Lee Spence, Jr.
Born	(1946-04-18)April 18, 1946 Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Origin	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	April 16, 1999(1999-04-16) (aged 52) Santa Cruz, California, U.S.
Genres	folk rock
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter musician
Instruments	Vocals guitar drums
Years active	1965–1971; sporadically until 1999
Labels	Columbia

Alexander "Skip" Spence (born Alexander Lee Spence, Jr.; April 18, 1946 – April 16, 1999) was a Canadian-born American singer-songwriter and musician. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. In the same year, he released his only solo album, Oar, and then largely withdrew from the music industry. He had started his career as a guitarist in an early line-up of Quicksilver Messenger Service, and was the drummer on Jefferson Airplane's debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off.

Biography

Early life: 1946–1965

Alexander Lee Spence was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada on April 18, 1946. His father, Alexander Lett "Jock" Spence (1914–1965), was a machinist, a salesman, and played Route 66 as a solo singer-songwriter and piano player. He was also a decorated Canadian WWII bomber pilot, having been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

In the late 1950s, the family relocated from Windsor to San Jose, California, when Spence's father found work in the aircraft industry. His parents gave him his first guitar when he was 10.

Music career: 1966–1969

Spence was a guitarist in the band The Other Side before Marty Balin recruited him to be the drummer for Jefferson Airplane (apparently because he looked the part). He has been described as "a key member of the 60s San Francisco Bay Area scene." Spence drummed on their debut, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, which was recorded before Grace Slick joined the group. The band dismissed him after he took an unannounced vacation in Mexico. He briefly considered joining Buffalo Springfield as a drummer before returning to the guitar to co-found Moby Grape.

In June 1968 Spence was admitted to Bellevue Hospital in New York; during his six-month stay he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. According to an urban myth, on the day of his release, clad in pajamas he drove a motorcycle directly to Nashville to record his only solo album, with the help of no other musicians, the now-classic folk album Oar (1969, Columbia Records).

Decline: 1970–1999

During the early '70s Spence also founded and experimented with a three-man rock band called Pachuca and later a larger ensemble called The Rhythm Dukes. He continued to have minor involvement in later Moby Grape projects and reunions. He contributed to 20 Granite Creek (1971) and Live Grape (1978), though his bandmates always included at least one of his songs on group recordings, irrespective of whether he was capable of performing with the group at the time. He had been similarly remembered by Jefferson Airplane, whereby his song "My Best Friend" was included on the group's Surrealistic Pillow album (1967), despite his departure from the group.

Due to his deteriorating state and notwithstanding that he was no longer functioning in the band, Spence was supported by Moby Grape band members for extended periods.

Mental illness thus prevented Spence from sustaining a career in the music industry. He spent many of his years in third-party care, as a ward of the State of California, and either homeless or in transient accomodations in his later years. He remained in and around San Jose and Santa Cruz. Peter Lewis regularly visited Spence during the latter years of his life: "The last five years I'd go up‚ he lived in a trailer up there‚ Capitola. I used to hang around with him; we'd spend the weekends together. But he just basically kind of hit the...he was helpless in a way in terms of being able to define anything or control his feelings."

In 1994, he participated in a music program for the mentally ill, sponsored by the City of San Jose. Two years later, in 1996, he was commissioned to write a song for The X-Files soundtrack, Songs in the Key of X; it wasn't used, but it was included on the More Oar tribute record as "Land of the Sun".

Spence's final performance with Moby Grape occurred on August 9, 1996, at Palookaville in Santa Cruz. At this final show, Spence led the group through a rendition of "Sailing" (a song performed during the 1971 reunion run) and an impromptu performance of "J.P.P. McStep B. Blues", which he'd written for Jefferson Airplane in 1966.

Death

Spence died of lung cancer on April 16, 1999; two days short of his 53rd birthday. He was survived by his four children, eleven grandchildren, half-brother Rich Young, and sister Sherry Ferreira. More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album, an album featuring contributions from Robert Plant, Tom Waits, and Beck, among others, was released a few weeks after his death. Prior to its release, the CD was played for Spence at the hospital, in his final stages before death. Spence is interred at Soquel Cemetery in Santa Cruz County.

Legacy

Spence wrote "Omaha" for Moby Grape's first album which Rolling Stone Magazine listed in 2008 as one of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time.

In June 2008, a Skip Spence tribute concert was held in Santa Cruz. The concert featured Spence's son Omar, who has sung with various configurations of Moby Grape in recent years. Omar Spence, singing his father's songs, was backed by the Santa Cruz White Album Ensemble, with Dale Ockerman and Tiran Porter, both formerly of the Doobie Brothers, and both of whom have played with various members of Moby Grape in several bands over the past three decades. Don Stevenson (an original Moby Grape member) also performed. Keith Graves of Quicksilver Messenger Service played drums.

Peter Lewis joined the group onstage for the finale. An additional Skip Spence tribute concert was held in October 2008.

William Gibson paid tribute to Spence in his collection of essays, Distrust That Particular Flavor, in which he marvelled at his tailor-adjusted jeans.

Discography

With Jefferson Airplane

• Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (RCA, 1966)

Compilations

• Early Flight (RCA, 1974)
• Jefferson Airplane Loves You (RCA, 1992)

With Moby Grape

Original albums

• Moby Grape (Columbia, 1967)
• Wow/Grape Jam (Columbia, 1968)
• Moby Grape '69 (Columbia, 1969)
• 20 Granite Creek (Reprise, 1971)
• Live Grape (Escape, 1978)
• The Place and the Time (Sundazed, 2009)
• Moby Grape Live (Sundazed, 2010)

Compilations

• Omaha (Harmony, 1971)
• Great Grape (Columbia, 1972)
• Murder in My Heart (Edsel, 1986)
• Vintage: The Very Best of Moby Grape (Columbia/Legacy, 1993)
• Crosstalk: The Best of Moby Grape (Sony International, 2004)
• Listen My Friends! The Best of Moby Grape (Columbia/Legacy, 2007)

Solo

Studio album

• Oar (Columbia, 1969), remastered and expanded in 1999 by Sundazed

Other release

• AndOarAgain (Columbia, 1969), remastered and expanded "Oar" with three discs (Modern Harmonic/Sundazed) (2018)

Single releases

• "Land of the Sun" (Sundazed, 1999)
• "After Gene Autry" b/w "Motorcycle Irene" (aka Previously Unissued Demo Recordings) (Sundazed, 2009)
• "I Want A Rock & Roll Band" b/w " I Got A Lot To Say / Mary Jane" (Modern Harmonic/Columbia, 2019)

Compilation appearances

• Psychodelia (MCI, 1994) - "War in Peace"
• Psychodelic Frequencies (Temple, 1996) - "War in Peace"
• L'odyssee Du Rock (Sony Music Media/Sony, 2004) 4XLP - "Cripple Creek"
• Meridian 1970 (Protest, Sorrow, Hobos, Folk and Blues) (Forever Heavenly/EMI, 2005) - "Cripple Creek"
• Woodstock Generation (Sony Music, 2009) MP3 - "War in Peace"
• Come on Back to The War (Mississippi, 2011) cassette - "Margret Tiger Rug"
• The Anniversary of Light (Mississippi, 2013) cassette - "Weighted Down"
• Bobby Gillespie Presents Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down (Ace, 2015) - "War in Peace"
• Institute-A Mixed Tape Made By Institute (Sacred Bones, 2015) ltd. edition cassette - "Cripple Creek"
• Between the Music Vol. One (End of the Road, 2022) 2XLP - "Cripple Creek"
• Music For The Stars (Celestial Music 1960-1979) (Two Piers, 2022) 2XLP/CD - "Broken Heart"
• Who Has Seen The Wind (Mississippi) cassette - "Broken Heart"

Tribute album

• More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album (Birdman, 1999)