Tributes For Paul Kantner, 1941-2016

Share This:

Paul Kantner in 1975

In what is sadly becoming an almost weekly occurrence, with another classic rock legend passing, fellow musicians have taken to social media to mourn one of their own. In this case, it’s tributes for Paul Kantner, co-founder of the Jefferson Airplane and later Jefferson Starship, who died January 28, 2016 at 74.

Grace Slick (via Facebook): Rest in peace my friend.
Love Grace

Jack Casady (via Facebook): We lost our Jefferson Airplane bandmate Paul Kantner today. A true San Francisco original!!! My favorite memory of Paul, …..looking over at Paul on stage in Golden Gate Park late 1960s and seeing him with his Rickenbacker 12 string guitar raised over his head in revolutionary stance calling out to “his” people assembled in the park!!! Great times…

Marty Balin (via Facebook): PAUL”So many memories rushing through my mind now. So many moments that he and I opened new worlds. He was the first guy I picked for the band and he was the first guy who taught me how to roll a joint. And although I know he liked to play the devil’s advocate, I am sure he has earned his wings now”. Sai Ram “Go with God”. ‪#‎paulkanter‬ ‪#‎jeffersonairplane‬‪ #‎thejeffersonairplane‬

David Crosby (Twitter):

Paul Kantner was my friend,roommate, pal..we wrote Wooden Ships together with Stephen I’m going to miss him

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) January 29, 2016

Michael Shrieve (of Santana, via Facebook): This cuts close to home. Before Santana, there was a chance I might play with Jefferson Airplane. It never happened, but I became close to members in the group. Rest in Peace Paul Kantner.

Jorma Kaukonen (via The New York Times): “Paul was the catalyst that brought the whole thing together. He had the transcendental vision and he hung onto it like a bulldog. The band would not have been what it was without him.”

Jeff Tamarkin (BCB Contributor, who wrote an Airplane biography with the cooperation of the band, via Facebook): This is a generational loss more than a personal one, much in the way that David Bowie’s and Glenn Frey’s passings were, or any of the other great artists we’ve lost this year. I hope he caught a ride on that hijacked starship and that it’s everything he hoped for.

Burton Cummings (of the Guess Who, via Facebook): We opened for Jefferson Airplane one night eons ago in the old Winnipeg Arena…
I thought we were pretty good that night, and strutted proudly after our set…a short wait and then they came on…after about six bars of one of their more recognizable songs, nobody in the building even remembered that we had been on the stage. It might have been the very first time that I really saw, in person,
the power that lives in a hit record.
Paul was a thinker. We’ve never had enough of them in popular music.
Crown of Creation will be with me forever.
Rest in Peace, Paul Kantner…”culture soldier”

America (via Facebook): Another great artist has gone to the next place…rest in peace Paul Kantner.

Huey Lewis (via Facebook): Very sad. Jefferson Airplane was the flag bearer for the San Francisco scene, at least as much as the Grateful Dead were, and Paul was their leader. He was no less than one of the very few spokesmen for the entire hippie generation. Smart and funny with a deep rebel streak, he helped define what was and was not cool in the 60s. He had a big impact on all of us who grew up in the Bay Area. His spirit will live on, of course, but he will be missed. – Huey

(If you’re a new Best Classic Bands reader, we’d be grateful if you would Like our Facebook page and/or bookmark our Home page.)

Best Classic Bands will continue to update this story.

<br />