Jefferson Starship
From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki.
Jefferson Starship performed the song "Light the Sky on Fire" for a musical sequence in The Star Wars Holiday Special. In the credits, however, they were referred to as The Jefferson Starship.
The origins of Jefferson Starship lie with an earlier band, Jefferson Airplane, one of the most influential groups in the psychedelic rock movement of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1969, they played at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival. Later that year, they were also one of the bands performing at the infamous Altamont Free Concert. The Altamont concert was the subject of the documentary Gimme Shelter, for which George Lucas was a camera operator.
In 1970, guitarist Paul Kantner and an ad-hoc group of musicians released a science-fiction themed album, Blows Against the Empire under the name "Jefferson Starship." By 1974, the new group had completely supplanted the original and by 1978, the lineup included only Kantner and vocalist Marty Balin from the "Airplane" days, following the departure of their iconic co-lead vocalist (and Kantner's ex-wife) Grace Slick. During their performance in The Star Wars Holiday Special, their lineup included:
- Marty Balin - Singer
- Paul Kantner - Guitarist
- Craig Chaquico - Lead Guitarist
- John Barbata - Drummer
- Pete Sears - Bassist
- David Freiberg - Keyboardist
- Steven Schuster - Bass Clarinettist
Marty Balin left the group soon afterwards, replaced by Mickey Thomas and Slick eventually rejoined the band. Paul Kantner, the last remaining founding member of Jefferson Airplane, left the band in 1984 and a protracted and bitter legal battle ensued over control of the band's name. The verbal sparring between Kantner and Slick was described as being worse than anything they had done during their divorce. In the end, Kantner was given control of the name "Jefferson" and the band was renamed simply "Starship." This incarnation was most famous for the song "We Built this City." With Slick's eventual departure from Starship, the band continued as "Starship featuring Mickey Thomas" (primarily as a gigging band). Meanwhile both earlier incarnations of the group have surfaced with Kantner, Balin and various other veterans performing as either Jefferson Airplane or Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation, depending on the lineup.
