Jefferson Airplane singer Signe Anderson dies

Anderson’s death came the same day as her former band mate Kantner, who passed away on January 28 from multiple organ failure and septic shock.

Following news of Anderson’s death, the surviving founding members of Jefferson Airplane paid tribute to their one-time singer.

“One sweet lady has passed on. I imagine that she and Paul woke up in heaven and said ‘Hey what are you doing here? Let’s start a band’ and no sooner then said Spencer was there joining in!,” Marty Balin wrote on Facebook, referring to the band’s late drummer Spencer Dryden. “Heartfelt thoughts to all their family and loved ones.”

Born in Seattle and raised in Portland, folk singer Signe Toly boarded Jefferson Airplane in the summer of 1965 after being asked to join the band by Balin following a San Francisco performance; soon after she married Merry Prankster Jerry Anderson.

Anderson appeared on the band’s debut album Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, singing lead on that LP’s “Chauffeur Blues” and featuring prominently on their version of “Let’s Get Together,” the Chet Powers-penned track that became a hitfor the Youngbloods the next year.

Just as Jefferson Airplane was ascending, Anderson gave birth to her first child. Realizing that life on the road with a newborn was unfeasible, Anderson opted to part ways with Jefferson Airplane in 1966.

Anderson’s final Jefferson Airplane performance, an October 15, 1966 late show gig at San Francisco’s Fillmore, was officially released as a live album in 2010.