Marty Balin, a co-founder of Jefferson Airplane, the band that morphed into Jefferson Starship, has died at the age of 76.
At this stage the cause of death is not known.
Martyn Jerel Buckwald changed his name to Marty Balin in 1962 when he began his music career.
After a few years in a folk band, Balin formed Jefferson Airplane and was the one of the male lead singer Paul Kantner and with female singer Grace Slick from 1965 to 1971.
The big album for Jefferson Airplane was ‘Surrealistic Pillow’ in 1967. It contained the classics ‘White Rabbit’ and ‘Somebody To Love’.
Jefferson Airplane played at the infamous Altamont Free Concert, the show featuring the Stones documented in the Rolling Stones movie ‘Gimme Shelter’.
In the late 70s, early 80s Marty Balin was a solo artist for some years. He scored a Top 10 US hit with ‘Hearts’ in 1981.
In 1974 Balin, Slick and Kanter reformed Jefferson Airplane and upgraded to Jefferson Starship. Balin left in 1979. He was not part of the next phase Starship in the 80s.
Jefferson Starship managed nine Top 40 hits in the USA.
Marty Balin had open-heart surgery in New York in 2016. Afterwards, he sued for medical malpractice, claiming his vocal cords were paralyzed after the operation, that he had kidney damage and loss of his left thumb and half his tongue.
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