Paul Kantner dead at 74
Paul Kantner, founding member, guitarist and singer for Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, died Thursday, January 28th of multiple organ failure and septic shock. He had suffered a heart attack earlier in the week, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He was 74 years old.
On March 25, 2015, it had been reported that Kantner had also suffered another heart attack. "Paul's health took a bad turn this week", the other members of Jefferson Starship had said via a Facebook post; "he's in the hospital, stable and undergoing tests to find out exactly what's going on, but doctors suspect he had a heart attack; he is in the best possible care and we are sending him all of our best wishes, good thoughts and healing vibes". Kantner returned to the group later on in the year, in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jefferson Airplane with special shows that also featured Grateful Dead tribute group Jazz is Dead.
Kantner pioneered the psychedelic spring of rock'n'roll music being one of the main players of the fabled 60s San Francisco scene, thus becoming a musical hero for generations of music lovers that followed. He will be remembered through his work as long as rock music is part of people's life.
Kantner is survived by his three children: Gareth, Alexander and China.