Skip Spence

Alexander "Skip" Spence
Columbia Records promotional photo of Skip Spence, early 1968, prior to his hospitalization. The photo was also used as the cover photo for Spence's Oar album (1969) and the More Oar tribute album (1999). The photo is also on Spence's gravestone.
Background information
Birth name	Alexander Lee Spence
Also known as	Skip Spence, Skippy
Born	(1946-04-18)April 18, 1946 Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Died	April 16, 1999(1999-04-16) (aged 52) Santa Cruz, California, U.S.
Genres	Rock, psychedelic folk, psychedelic rock
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, drums
Years active	1965–1971; sporadically to 1999 (his death)
Labels	Columbia, Sundazed
Associated acts	Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape

Alexander Lee "Skip" Spence (April 18, 1946 – April 16, 1999) was a Canadian-born American musician and singer-songwriter. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. He released one solo album, 1969's Oar, and then largely withdrew from the music industry. He had started his career as a guitarist in an early line-up of Quicksilver Messenger Service, and was the drummer on Jefferson Airplane's debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. He has been described on the Allmusic website as "one of psychedelia's brightest lights"; however, his career was plagued by drug addictions coupled with mental health problems, and he has been described by a biographer as a man who "neither died young nor had a chance to find his way out."

Alexander Lee "Skip" Spence was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, in 1946. His father, Alexander Lett "Jock" Spence (1914-1965), was a machinist, a salesman, and played Route 66 as a solo singer-songwriter and piano player. Alexander Spence was a decorated Canadian WW II bomber pilot, having been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

In the late 1950s, the family relocated from Windsor to San Jose, California, based on Spence's father finding work in the aircraft industry. At the age of ten, Skip was given his first guitar by his parents.

Spence was a guitarist in the band the Other Side before Marty Balin recruited him to be the drummer for Jefferson Airplane (apparently because he looked the part). Spence drummed on their debut, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, and was dismissed by the band after taking an unannounced vacation to Mexico. He briefly considered joining Buffalo Springfield as a drummer before returning to the guitar to co-found Moby Grape.