Marty Balin, co-founder of the plane Jefferson, died at the age of 76 – Rolling Stone

Marty Balin, guitarist-guitarist Jefferson Airplane, who co-founded the San Francisco psychedelic rock band in 1965 and played a pivotal role in creating all their 1960s albums, including Surreal pillow and volunteersdied on Thursday at the age of 76. The representative of Balin confirmed the death of the musician Rolling stone, although the cause of death is currently unknown.

Born Martyn Jerel Buchwald, Balin was a folk guitarist on the San Francisco scene when he formed a band with Paul Kantner after meeting the 12-string guitarist in a hootenanny. They met guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, bassist Jack Casady, drummer Skip Spence and singer Signe Toly Anderson and finished their first album in 1966 Jefferson Airplane takes off. They developed a strong popularity around San Francisco 's nascent rock scene, but became superstars nationwide in 1967 when Anderson left the band and was replaced by Grace Slick.

Balin co-wrote five songs on their revolutionary LP Surreal pillow , including "Comin 'Back to Me" and the first installment "She Has Funny Cars", and her tenor voice has become a key part of their sound signature. He played with the group at all their most famous concerts, including the 1967 Human Be-In in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock and Altamont. During this last concert, Balin was brutally beaten by the Hells Angels after having plunged into the public to help a member of the public in distress. "I woke up with all these boots all over my body," he told Relix in 1993. "I just went out. I remember Jorma saying, "Hey, you're a crazy bitch."

A little more than a year later, Balin left the group. "I thought everyone [was] kind of asshole, "he said earlier this year. "It was a period of cocaine so … everyone took cocaine. And the people I would work with, they would yell at you and it would become intense. The plane was doing this kind of trip. You know, I just drank alcohol. But some of the chemicals made people crazy and very selfish, and it was really not fun to be there for me. So I bailed out.

Balin spent a few years managing rock bands in San Francisco, but was brought back into the band's orbit by Kantner in 1974, although Casady and Kaukonen then defected and the other members introduced themselves as Jefferson Starship. The offensive group was incredibly successful and more successful than the original aircraft, including Balin's "Miracles". Red octopus, hitting the number three in 1975. But in 1978, Balin got tired of the tour, all the more so as Slick's alcohol problems caused many uneven performances, and he left the band for a solo career. In 1989, he participated in the short tour of Jefferson Airplane and returned four years later to Jefferson Starship to finally leave in 2008.

In 2016, Balin underwent an open heart surgery at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in New York. He then sued them for medical malpractice, claiming that they had caused him a myriad of injuries, including a paralyzed vocal cord, pressure ulcers, kidney damage, and the loss of his left thumb and half of his left shoulder. his language.