Paul Kantner, the co-founder of the iconic 1960s music group Jefferson Airplane, died Thursday after suffering a heart attack this week. He was 74.
Kantner's publicist
Cynthia Bowman told the San Francisco Chronicle that the guitarist died from multiple organ failure and septic shock. Kantner faced a number of health challenges recently, including a previous heart attack last March.
Jefferson Airplane, which Kantner and Marty Balin formed in 1965, ushered in what would become known as the San Francisco sound, according to the newspaper. Kantner, Balin, and Grace Slick belted out what was then called psychedelic blues-rock created by guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bass player Jack Casady.
A relationship between Kantner and Slick would result in a daughter, named China, according to the Chronicle.
By Friday morning, more than 260 people had left comments on Slick's Facebook post acknowledging Kantner's death late Thursday.
According to Billboard magazine, Slick and Kantner founded a spinoff group called Jefferson Starship in 1974. The guitarist was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a member of Jefferson Airplane.
"Jefferson Airplane formally evolved into Jefferson Starship in 1974, achieving considerably more commercial success in the Seventies than the Airplane had known in the
previous decade," the band's Hall of Fame biography reads.
"Built around Airplane originals Kantner, Slick, and Balin, the radio-minded Starship racked up 15 Top 40 hits, including the Balin-sung 'Miracles.' Jefferson Starship actually outlasted Jefferson Airplane, though the latter group did reassemble in 1989 for a reunion album and tour."
Others remembered Kantner on social media.
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