In a recent interview with Goldmine, former Jefferson Starship lead guitarist Craig Chaquico seemed to downplay Grace Slick’s impact on the band.
Referring to the cover art of their 1976 album, ‘Spitfire,’ the rocker said:
“Everybody thinks it’s Grace on the cover, but it’s not. The woman, Cassandra Gava, was an actress who later appeared in a movie with Tom Selleck called ‘High Road to China.’ She was also in the movie ‘Conan the Barbarian’ with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cassandra was credited in the ‘Spitfire’ liner notes as the ‘Dragon Princess.'”
Later in the conversation, Chaquico also highlighted his own role in the success of both Jefferson Starship and Starship:
“In fact, I’m the only one to appear on all the gold and platinum Jefferson Starship and Starship albums. Not Grace. Not anybody but me. If I didn’t play on it or write on it, it didn’t sell. It definitely didn’t go gold or platinum. Besides vocals, I’m the only live musician on the huge hit ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,’ as well as much of the Starship songs written and produced by keyboardist sampler geniuses.”
Still, the guitarist acknowledged Slick as a good team player, as well, in a 2016 chat with Smashing Interviews Magazine. He explained:
“I don’t have anything bad to say about Grace. People can bad mouth her all they want, but I won’t. To tell you the truth, in a very down-to-earth backstage way, Grace was one of the guys. I don’t mean that to sound chauvinistic. I just mean she didn’t have an ‘I’m a big star, and the rest of you guys are in my backup band,’ attitude. She never did that. She was so cool and a team player.”
Besides the Starship and Jefferson Starship albums, Chaquico also worked with Grace on her first solo album, ‘Manhole,’ and the collaborative albums of Jefferson Airplane members, ‘Sunfighter’ and ‘Baron von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun.’
