Signe Toly Anderson

Signe Toly Anderson
Anderson in a 1966 Jefferson Airplane photo.
Background information
Birth name	Signe Toly
Born	(1941-09-15)September 15, 1941 Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Died	January 28, 2016(2016-01-28) (aged 74) Beaverton, Oregon, US
Genres	Rock, folk rock, blues
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1965–1997
Associated acts	Jefferson Airplane, Carl Smith and the Natural Gas Company, KBC, Jefferson Starship

Signe Toly Anderson born Signe Toly; (/ˈsɪɡ.niː/ SIG-nee; September 15, 1941 – January 28, 2016) was an American singer who was one of the founding members of the American rock band Jefferson Airplane.

Born in Seattle on September 15, 1941, Signe Toly was raised in Portland, Oregon. She was a locally known and well-respected jazz and folk singer in San Francisco, where Marty Balin heard her perform and invited her to join his band, soon named "Jefferson Airplane."

Soon after joining the Airplane, she married one of the Merry Pranksters, Jerry Anderson, a marriage that lasted from 1965 to 1974. She sang on the first Jefferson Airplane album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, most notably on the song "Chauffeur Blues". Anderson distrusted the Airplane's original manager, Matthew Katz, and refused to sign a contract with him until he inserted a special escape clause freeing her from him if she left the band for any reason.

Anderson, in July 1966, informed Bill Graham that she was quitting the band after a series of shows they were playing in Chicago, realizing that bringing her newborn child, with then-husband Jerry Anderson, on the road was not feasible. Graham, however, asked her to stay with the band through the October shows at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, to which she agreed. This gave the band time to search for her replacement, eventually choosing Grace Slick after Sherry Snow declined their offer. Allegedly there were other factors, such as the hostility of other band members towards her husband.