Signe Anderson, 74; original Jefferson Airplane singer . NEW YORK -
Signe Toly Anderson, a vocalist and original member of the Jefferson
Airplane who left the band after its first record and was replaced by
Grace Slick, died Jan. 28 at her home in Beaverton, Ore., according to
her daughter, Onateska Ladybug Sherwood. Ms. Anderson was 74 and had
been suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Ms.
Anderson, who survived cancer in her 30s, died on the same day that
another Airplane member, Paul Kantner, died. Born Signe Toly in Seattle
and raised in Portland, Ore., after her parents divorced, she was a
folk and jazz singer who had performed in groups since high school. She
moved to San Francisco in her 20s and began appearing at a popular folk
club, the Drinking Gourd. Vocalist Marty Balin heard her sing and asked
her to join what became the Jefferson Airplane, which in 1966 released
"The Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. Strongly influenced by the folk-rock
sound of the time, "Takes Off" was a word-of-mouth hit that combined
original songs and covers, including a showcase for Ms. Anderson and
her soulful contralto, "Chauffeur Blues. But by the time the album came
out, she had given birth to her first child and she departed after a
show at the Fillmore in October 1966, a concert bootlegged for years
and released officially in 2010. Given a standing ovation after Balin
announced from the stage that she was leaving, Ms. Anderson told the
audience, "I want you all to wear smiles and daisies and box balloons.
I love you all. Thank you and goodbye. The switch from Ms. Anderson to
Slick, formerly of the San Francisco group the Great Society, proved
momentous for the Airplane and for rock history. Slick brought with her
two future standards, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit," and a
fierce vocal style and confrontational attitude. The next album,
"Surrealistic Pillow," was a landmark of psychedelic rock that made the
Airplane superstars and representatives of the "San Francisco Sound.
"You have to look at the priorities in your life, the reality in your
life," Ms. Anderson told radio station KGON in Portland in 2011,
remembering the ordeals of bringing her baby on tour. "I had to wait in
the San Francisco airport in July of 1966 for 36 hours before we got on
the airplane and flew to Chicago. All the diapers were gone. "I don't
regret having left," she added. Ms. Anderson was a footnote in the
Airplane's history, but she was regarded with respect and affection by
fans and stayed in touch with Kantner, Balin and other band members and
performed on occasion with them over the following decades. On
Facebook, bassist Jack Casady remembered her as "a real sweetheart with
a terrific contralto voice. Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen wrote on
his blog that Ms. Anderson was "our den mother in the early days of the
Airplane" a voice of reason for "our dysfunctional little family.
Balin, writing on Facebook, imagined that she and Kantner "woke up in
heaven and said 'Hey what are you doing here? Let's start a band. Ms.
Anderson was married twice, to Merry Prankster Jerry Anderson and to
Michael Alois Ettlin, who died in 2011. She leaves two children and
three grandchildren.
