Paul Kantner

Paul Kantner
Paul Kantner, 1975.
Background information
Birth name	Paul Lorin Kantner
Born	(1941-03-17)March 17, 1941 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	January 28, 2016(2016-01-28) (aged 74) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Genres	Psychedelic rock, folk rock, acid rock
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, banjo
Years active	1964–2016
Labels	RCA, Grunt, Arista
Associated acts	Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, KBC Band
Notable instruments
Rickenbacker 360/12 Fireglo & Mapleglo

Paul Lorin Kantner (March 17, 1941 – January 28, 2016) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, known for co-founding Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture era, and its more commercial spin-off band Jefferson Starship. He was born in San Francisco, California.

Jefferson Airplane formed in 1965 when Kantner met Marty Balin. Kantner eventually became the leader of the group and led it through its highly successful late 1960s period. In 1970, while still active with Jefferson Airplane, Kantner and several Bay Area musicians recorded a one-off side project under the name "Paul Kantner and the Jefferson Starship."

Jefferson Airplane continued to record and perform until 1972. When the band officially broke up, Kantner revived the Jefferson Starship name and continued to record and perform with that band until his death in 2016. Kantner had the longest continuous membership with the band. At times, he was the only founding Jefferson Airplane member to remain in Jefferson Starship. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Jefferson Airplane in 1996.

Kantner was born on March 17, 1941, in San Francisco, California, the son of Cora Lee (Fortier) and Paul Schell Kantner. Kantner had a half-brother and a half-sister by his father's first marriage, both much older than he. His father was of German descent, and his mother was of French and German ancestry. His mother died when he was eight years old, and Kantner remembered that he was not allowed to attend her funeral. His father sent him to the circus instead. After his mother's death, his father, who was a traveling salesman, sent young Kantner to Catholic military boarding school. At age eight or nine, in the school's library, he read his first science fiction book, finding an escape by immersing himself in science fiction and music from then on. As a teenager he went into total revolt against all forms of authority, and he decided to become a protest folk singer in the manner of his musical hero, Pete Seeger. He attended Saint Mary's College High School, Santa Clara University and San Jose State College, completing a total of three years of college before he dropped out to enter the music scene.