Signe Anderson, Jefferson Airplane Singer, Dies at 74
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSFEB. 2, 2016
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Signe Toly Anderson, the original female vocalist with Jefferson Airplane, who left the band after its first album and was replaced by Grace Slick, died on Thursday at her home in Beaverton, Ore. She was 74.
Her death was confirmed by her daughter, Onateska Ladybug Sherwood, who said that Ms. Anderson had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She had survived cancer in her 30s.
Ms. Anderson died the same day as another original member of the Airplane, the singer and guitarist Paul Kantner.
In the 1960s, Ms. Anderson was living in San Francisco and appearing at a popular folk club, the Drinking Gourd, when the vocalist Marty Balin heard her sing and asked her to join a folk-rock group he was forming.
The band, soon christened Jefferson Airplane, signed with RCA Victor Records and released its first album, “Jefferson Airplane Takes Off,” in 1966.
By the time that album came out, Ms. Anderson had given birth to her first child and decided to leave the group. She left after a farewell concert at the Fillmore in October 1966 and was replaced the next night by Ms. Slick, formerly of the San Francisco group the Great Society.
Ms. Slick brought with her a fierce vocal style very different from Ms. Anderson’s soulful contralto, as well as two songs from the Great Society’s repertoire, “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit,” which would become the band’s biggest hits.
Signe Toly was born in Seattle on Sept. 15, 1941, and raised in Portland, Ore., after her parents divorced. She began performing professionally while still in high school and later moved to San Francisco.
Her marriage to Jerry Anderson ended in divorce. Her second husband, Michael Alois Ettlin, died in 2011. She is survived by two children and three grandchildren.
Ms. Anderson stayed in touch with Mr. Kantner, Mr. Balin and other former bandmates and performed with them on occasion. Jorma Kaukonen, the Airplane’s lead guitarist, wrote on his blog that she was “our den mother in the early days” and a voice of reason for “our dysfunctional little family.”
Mr. Balin, writing on Facebook, imagined that she and Mr. Kantner “woke up in heaven and said: ‘Hey what are you doing here? Let’s start a band.’”
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