b. 17 March 1941, San Francisco, California, USA. Kantner abandoned ambitions of a career in folk music on becoming a founder-member of Jefferson Airplane in 1965. Although this revered unit was initially a vehicle for lead singer Marty Balin, his influence was gradually eclipsed by those of Kantner and new vocalist Grace Slick, particularly when the pair became linked romantically. An early predilection for love songs was replaced by an espousal of hip politics and science fiction; the latter was a particular Kantner favourite. Volunteers included "Wooden Ships', written with David Crosby and Stephen Stills, and a collaboration reflecting a growing desire among many musicians to break the constraints of a single group. 1970"s Blows Against The Empire, credited to Paul Kantner with Jefferson Starship, enshrined this desire by featuring contributions from Slick, Crosby, Jerry Garcia and Graham Nash. Although the storyline was slight - a group of friends hijack Earth's first starship - it contained several excellent songs, notably "Have You Seen The Stars Tonite" and "A Child Is Coming". The album was nominated for a Hugo science fiction award.

Listen to Paul Kantner at Finetune.

• Have You Seen The Stars Tonite
• Starship
• Hijack
• Sunrise
• Have You Seen the Stars Tonight

• Jefferson Airplane
• Grateful Dead
• Bob Dylan
• Jimi Hendrix Experience
• Led Zeppelin
• The Byrds
• Santana
• Eric Clapton
• Rolling Stones
• Fleetwood Mac
• Joni Mitchell
• Yes
• Dire Straits
• Pink Floyd
• Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship
• Country Joe & The Fish
• The Doors
• Jethro Tull
• Paul Simon
• Jackson Browne

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