Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Initially a continuation of Jefferson Starship, it underwent a change in musical direction, the subsequent loss of personnel, and a lawsuit settlement that led to a name change. Starship's 1985 album, Knee Deep in the Hoopla, was certified platinum by the RIAA, and included two singles that went to number one on the US BillboardHot 100 chart: "We Built This City" and "Sara".[1] Their follow up album, No Protection, released in 1987, was certified gold and featured the band's third number one single, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now".[1] After a short hiatus in the early 1990s, the band reformed in 1992 as "Starship featuring Mickey Thomas" and resumed touring.
1984–1988: Origins, Knee Deep in the Hoopla, and No Protection
Grace Slick and Mickey Thomas onstage in 1985
In June 1984, Paul Kantner, the last remaining founding member of Jefferson Airplane, left Jefferson Starship. In October 1984, Kantner took legal action over the Jefferson Starship name against his former bandmates. In March 1985, Kantner settled out of court and signed an agreement that neither party would use the names "Jefferson" or "Airplane" unless all members of Jefferson Airplane Inc. (Bill Thompson, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jorma Kaukonen, and Jack Casady) agreed. Jefferson Starship briefly performed as "Starship Jefferson" while legal proceedings occurred, before settling on the shortened name "Starship".[2]
David Freiberg stayed with the band after the lawsuit and attended the first studio sessions for the next album, Knee Deep in the Hoopla. He became frustrated with the sessions because all the keyboard work in the studio was being done by Peter Wolf (who had played on the sessions for Nuclear Furniture and briefly joined the band on the road for the follow-up tour) and that was the instrument Freiberg was supposed to be playing.[3] Freiberg was dismissed from the band in 1985.[4][5] The album was finished with the five remaining members, consisting of Slick, co-lead singer Mickey Thomas, guitarist Craig Chaquico, bassistPete Sears, and drummer Donny Baldwin. In 1984, Gabriel Katona (who had previously played in Rare Earth and Player) joined the band to play keyboards and saxophone on the road with them through to the end of the 1986 tour.[6]Knee Deep in the Hoopla was released in September 1985 and scored two number-one hits. The first was "We Built This City", written by Bernie Taupin, Martin Page, Dennis Lambert, and Peter Wolf and was engineered by Grammy-winning producer Bill Bottrell and arranged by Bottrell and Jasun Martz; the second was "Sara". The album itself reached No. 7, went platinum, and spawned two more singles: "Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight" (#26), and "Before I Go" (#68). The band had not had a number-one hit record since previous incarnation Jefferson Starship released Red Octopus in 1975.
Craig Chaquico with Starship in 1986
In 1986, the group recorded "Cut You Down to Size" for the film Youngblood. By the time the 1987 sessions for the album No Protection began, bassist Pete Sears had left the band.[7][8] Sears went on to play keyboards with former Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady in Hot Tuna for ten years. In early 1987, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", recorded while Sears was still with the band, appeared in the film Mannequin and reached No. 1 on the U.S. and British charts.[9] At that time, the song made Slick the oldest female vocalist to sing on a number-one Billboard Hot 100 hit, at the age of 47 (she held this record until Cher broke it at the age of 52, in 1999 with "Believe").[9] "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song in 1988.[10]No Protection was released in July 1987, and also featured the singles "It's Not Over ('Til It's Over)" (#9), and "Beat Patrol" (#46). The last song on the album, "Set the Night to Music", would later become a hit in 1991, re-recorded as a duet by Roberta Flack and Maxi Priest. Following the completion of the album sessions in 1987, Brett Bloomfield was brought in to replace Sears and Mark Morgan joined the band on keyboards.
Slick left Starship in February 1988, going on to join the reformed Jefferson Airplane for an album and tour in 1989, before retiring from music.[11][12][13][9] As Kantner, Sears and Freiberg had left the band, all the new and remaining members were more than a decade younger than she was. Slick has been quoted as saying that "old people don't belong on a rock and roll stage".[14]
1988–1992: Love Among the Cannibals and inactivity
With Thomas the sole lead singer, the revamped lineup recorded Love Among the Cannibals from 1988 to 1989, and it was released in August 1989. The song "It's Not Enough" peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[15] "Wild Again" (which reached No. 73 on the Billboard singles chart) was also used in the film Cocktail. The band went on another tour to support the album; recruiting backing singers Christina Marie Saxton and Melisa Kary to fill the gap left by Slick's departure. On September 24, 1989, while the band was in Scranton, Pennsylvania for a show, Baldwin and Thomas got into a violent altercation during which Thomas was seriously injured and required facial surgery, and three titanium plates implanted in his skull.[1][16] Baldwin resigned from the band immediately afterward; he would later join the revived Jefferson Starship in 2008.[17] The remainder of the tour was postponed until Thomas had recovered and was able to tour again.
After Thomas was well enough to tour, the band continued to tour in support of Cannibals. Kenny Stavropoulos was recruited to be the band's new drummer.[18] After the Cannibals tour wound up in 1990, Chaquico, the last remaining original Jefferson Starship member, handed in his notice. Thomas attributes the comparative lack of commercial success of the last album to the interruption of the tour, among other factors. Cannibals remains his personal favorite Starship album.[19] Brett Bloomfield, Mark Morgan, and Kenny Stavropoulos also departed the group in 1990.[9] Peter Wolf was added as a member on keyboards at this time.[20] The band recorded new music with Thomas and Wolf supplemented by studio musicians from late 1990 through early 1991. In May 1991, RCA assembled a compilation album, Greatest Hits (Ten Years and Change 1979–1991). The collection also included two new tracks, "Don't Lose Any Sleep" with Thomas and Chaquico (recorded before Chaquico had left) and "Good Heart" (#81) with Thomas, Wolf, and session musicians. A third track originally recorded during this time period, "Keys to the City", was released in October 2012 on the album Playlist: The Very Best of Starship. Shortly after the release of the 1991 greatest hits album, manager Bill Thompson decided to fire the group and told RCA that the band was done making records.[21][20] The band was let go by RCA,[20] and Starship became inactive.[1]
1992–present: Starship featuring Mickey Thomas
In early 1992, Thomas obtained the usage rights to the name and revived Starship as "Mickey Thomas's Starship" before changing the billing name to "Starship featuring Mickey Thomas", and has toured steadily ever since.[1][7][22]
Besides Thomas, the new lineup featured: Melisa Kary (vocals), Jeff Tamelier (guitar), Bobby Vega (bass), T. Moran (drums), John Lee Sanders (keyboards, saxophone), Max Haskett (trumpet, backing vocals) and Bill Slais (saxophone, keyboards). Although Thomas was touring with mostly new band members, bassist Brett Bloomfield returned to Starship for several years, from 1993 to 1997.[23][24] Melisa Kary and Christina Marie Saxton, who had both performed with the group as backing singers on tour in 1989 through 1990, also had stints as official members in the revived band.[22] Haskett departed the group in 1993. Drummer Darrell Verdusco (formerly of KBC Band) and keyboard player Phil Bennett joined the band in 1995, after Moran, Sanders and Slais all left.[25] Guitarist Erik Torjeson and bassist John Garnache came aboard in 1997, replacing Tamelier and Bloomfield respectively. The band recorded the album Live at Stanley Cup in 1997. Jeff Adams, previously of Jimi Jamison's Survivor, replaced Garnache on bass in 2000.[25] Mark Abrahamian took over lead guitar from Torjeson in that same year.[26]
In 2003 "Starship featuring Mickey Thomas" released a DVD documentary Starship: Greatest & Latest.[27] The album accompanying this release contained re-recordings of some of the Starship's biggest hits, songs originally from Thomas's tenure in Jefferson Starship, as well as "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" which Thomas originally sang during his time in the Elvin Bishop Group in 1976.[1]
Female vocalist Stephanie Calvert joined the band in 2006.[25] A live album titled Layin' it on the Line Live in Las Vegas was released in 2007. The band released the non-album single "Get Out Again" in 2007. The compilation album Playlist: The Very Best of Starship, was released in October 2012, and included the newly recorded song, "Karma (Everything You Do)".[28]
Starship's first new studio album of original music in over two decades, Loveless Fascination produced by Jeff Pilson of the band Foreigner, was released on September 17, 2013.[29][30][31][32][33] "It's Not the Same as Love" was released as a single from the album.[34] The band performed at the Streamy Awards on September 8, 2014.[35] The non-album single "My Woman" was released in 2016. On February 1, 2019, Rhino Entertainment acquired the rights to the Starship catalog for all the albums released between 1985 and 1991.[36]
In 1999, former Starship trumpet player Max Haskett, who performed with the band from their reformation in 1992 until the following year, died from pancreatic cancer.[37][38] Former lead guitarist Erik Torjesen, who performed with the band from 1996 until 2000, died of cancer at age 34 in 2001.[39] Lead guitarist Mark Abrahamian died from a heart attack, at age 46, following a concert on September 2, 2012.[40][41]
Abrahamian was replaced as guitarist by John Roth,[29] after former member Jeff Tamelier had returned to fill in again (having also done so in 2011). Bassist Uriah Duffy (ex-Whitesnake) did brief fill in stints for Adams during 2011 and 2012. Tamelier filled in on guitar again for Roth in 2013, and Tony Rossi substituted on guitar in 2014.
In August 2021, vocalist Cian Coey began filling in for Stephanie Calvert at concert dates. On October 31, 2021, Calvert revealed on her social media that she was dismissed from the band on September 7, 2021. Although no statement was issued by the group, the biography section of the official Starship website was updated, removing Calvert and listing Coey as a band member.[42][43][44]
↑ Barthel, John (September 4, 1997). "David Freiberg Interview". Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Well, because they want me in, and I didn't want to be there because they were doing 'We Built This City' and all. It was at the point where they were going to the studio, and nobody in the band was playing anything. Maybe if they needed a guitar… Craig would play it. It was all producing and it was all hot stuff keyboard players and that is what I was basically playing with them…you know…and that wasn't me. Why have me around? Why should I be around?
↑ Sullivan, James; Heller, Greg; Hildebrand, Lee, eds. (September 26, 1999). "Giving Garage Bands a Chance". SFGate.com. Archived from the original on September 10, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022. Trumpeter Max Haskett, 52, a longtime Bay Area music-scene veteran who played with dozens of bands including Cold Blood, Pacific Brass and Electric, Todd Rundgren and most recently David Martin's House Party, died September 15 of pancreatic cancer.
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to achieve international commercial success. They headlined the Monterey Pop Festival (1967), Woodstock (1969), Altamont Free Concert (1969), and the first Isle of Wight Festival (1968) in England. Their 1967 breakout album Surrealistic Pillow was one of the most significant recordings of the Summer of Love. Two songs from that album, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", are among Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albums, and one gold-selling compilation. The album Red Octopus went double-platinum, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1975. The band went through several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the Jefferson Starship name. The band name was retired in 1984, but it was picked up again in 1992 by a revival of the group led by Paul Kantner, which has continued since his death in 2016.
John Michael Thomas is an American rock singer. He is best known as the male lead vocalist of Jefferson Starship and Starship. Prior to joining Jefferson Starship, he was a member of Elvin Bishop's band as a backing and occasional lead vocalist. He was the lead singer on Bishop's best-known song, "Fooled Around And Fell In Love."
Knee Deep in the Hoopla is the debut studio album by American AOR band Starship, released on 12 September 1985 by RCA and Grunt. Four singles were released from the album: the No. 1 hits "We Built This City" and "Sara", "Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight" and "Before I Go".
Nuclear Furniture is the eighth album by American rock band Jefferson Starship, released in June 1984 through Grunt Records. It was the final album by the band before the departure of leader Paul Kantner and the eventual transition of the remaining members of the group to become Starship.
KBC Band was formed in 1985 by former Jefferson Airplane members Paul Kantner, Marty Balin and Jack Casady (bass). Other members included Keith Crossan, Tim Gorman, Slick Aguilar and Darrell Verdusco (drums). Their sole LP, KBC Band, featured the singles "America" and "It's Not You, It's Not Me."
Paul Lorin Kantner was an American rock musician. He is best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and a secondary vocalist of Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture era. He continued these roles as a member of Jefferson Starship, Jefferson Airplane's successor band.
Craig Clinton Chaquico is an American guitarist, songwriter, and composer. From 1974 to 1990 he was lead guitarist for the rock bands Jefferson Starship and Starship. In 1993, he started a solo career as an acoustic jazz guitarist and composer.
Modern Times is the sixth album by Jefferson Starship and was released in 1981. Grace Slick appeared on this album after a three-year absence. She returned near the end of the recording sessions, providing background vocals on some tracks as well as lead vocals on the single "Stranger" as a duet with lead singer Mickey Thomas. "Stranger" had previously been performed live by Jefferson Starship as early as December 1979, and the first studio version was made for Modern Times. Although not appearing in the band picture on the gatefold cover, Slick is listed on the back cover of the LP with the credit "Introducing Grace Slick" and her picture is on the lyric sleeve with the note "Grace Slick courtesy of Grace Slick." She joined the band officially for the 1981 tour. This was the first Jefferson Starship album to have promotional music videos. It was also the first album to feature a charting single on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, which had premiered earlier in the year. The single "Find Your Way Back" reached No. 3 on the Mainstream Rock chart.
Red Octopus is the second album by American rock band Jefferson Starship, released on Grunt Records in 1975. Certified double platinum by RIAA in 1995, it is the best-selling album by any incarnation of Jefferson Airplane and its spin-off groups. The single "Miracles" was the highest-charting single any permutation of the band had until Starship's "We Built This City" a decade later, ultimately peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard singles chart; the album itself reached No. 1 for four non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200. As was common in the era, stereo and quadraphonic mixes of the album were released concurrently.
Jefferson Airplane is the eighth and final studio album by San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane, released on Epic Records in 1989. Marty Balin, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady all returned for the album and supporting tour, though Spencer Dryden did not participate. The album and accompanying tour would mark the last time Jefferson Airplane would perform together until their 1996 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Spitfire is the third album by American rock band Jefferson Starship. Released in 1976, a year after the chart-topping Red Octopus, it quickly scaled the charts, peaking for six consecutive weeks at No. 3 in Billboard and attaining an RIAA platinum certification. Stereo and quadraphonic mixes of the album were released.
Dragon Fly is the debut album by Jefferson Starship, released on Grunt Records in 1974. It peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified a gold album. Credited to Grace Slick, Paul Kantner, and Jefferson Starship, the band itself was a turning point after a series of four albums centering on the partnership of Kantner and Slick during the disintegration of Jefferson Airplane through the early 1970s.
Freedom at Point Zero is the fifth album by American rock band Jefferson Starship, released in 1979. It was the first album for new lead singer Mickey Thomas, and the first after both Grace Slick and Marty Balin left the previous year. Aynsley Dunbar plays drums on this album; he had left Journey the previous year. The album cover was shot on location in the San Francisco Bay on board the USCGC Midgett.
Winds of Change is the seventh album by Jefferson Starship and was released in 1982. It was the first studio album produced after Grace Slick rejoined the band as a full member. Aynsley Dunbar plays drums on the album, but was replaced by Donny Baldwin for the supporting tour. The album reached number 26 on the Billboard charts.
Earth is the fourth album by American rock band Jefferson Starship. The album was recorded in 1977, with the same band lineup as the previous album, Spitfire and released in 1978.
David Freiberg is an American musician best known for contributing vocals, keyboards, electric bass, rhythm guitar, viola and percussion as a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, and Jefferson Starship. Among other tracks, he co-wrote "Jane", a hit for Jefferson Starship.
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