SAN FRANCISCO (by Jes Dryden/ www.spencerdryden.com) - Jefferson Airplane drummer and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Spencer Dryden, passed away at his home in Penngrove, California, on Monday, January 10th after a brief battle with colon cancer. He was 66.
Nephew of the great Charlie Chaplin, Spencer was born in Manhattan, New York, in 1938 to English actor, Wheeler Dryden, and Radio City Music Hall prima ballerina, Alice Chapple. The family moved to Los Angeles a year later, where Wheeler Dryden went to work as an assistant director for Chaplin.
Spencer grew up honing his drumming skills on the Los Angeles jazz circuit, playing with such notables as Charles Lloyd, Bobby Hutcherson and Paul Bley. In 1956, Spencer joined his first rock band, The Heartbeats, which featured guitar legend Roy Buchanan. Ten years later, he would join Jefferson Airplane.
Jefferson Airplane was the sound of a generation. More than just the most successful and influential rock band to emerge from San Francisco during the 1960s, they personified the cutting edge of the decade's counterculture. Jefferson Airplane was on the front lines during one of the most exciting, tumultuous times in American history, and their confrontational lyrics and alternative lifestyle often cast them as "outlaws in the eyes of America." The Airplane didn't just dominate American popular music and culture at the peak of the '60s, they transformed it.
Their 1967 smash hits "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" provided the soundtrack to the Summer of Love, virtually inventing the era's signature pulsating psychedelic music, and came to personify the decade's radical counterculture. They were the only band to play all three of the landmark rock festivals of the sixties: Monterey Pop, Woodstock, and Altamont.
After leaving the group in 1970, Spencer continued his musical career with The New Riders of the Purple Sage in the seventies, and throughout the eighties with San Francisco super group, Dinosaurs, which also featured Barry Melton of Country Joe & The Fish, John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Peter Albin of Big Brother & The Holding Company, Robert Hunter of The Grateful Dead, and Merl Saunders of the Saunders-Garcia band.
Spencer had been besieged by bad luck in recent years. A hip replacement that didn't take well left him permanently disabled. In September 2003, fire destroyed his home and all of his possessions and memorabilia. Three weeks after the fire, he suffered a heart attack and was told that he needed cardiac surgery.
Friends and family worked tirelessly throughout 2004, including hosting a benefit concert in Dryden's honor, to raise the funds needed for the procedure. A week before he was set to have it performed, he was diagnosed with cancer. His battle with the disease lasted only three months.
Even throughout this difficult period, Spencer managed to maintain the humor and wit that so many people will remember him for. In a December interview, he jokingly remarked, "Well, at least I know how much I'm worth," when speaking in regards to the seven-figure medical debt he had managed to accumulate in two months' time.
"Spencer Dryden was born cool," said New Riders band mate David Nelson. "He had an air of calm mastery about him. I feel fortunate to have him as a friend, and proud to have played on the big stage with him. Always fun and creative, we had a running commentary on life as we traveled the road together. He was a love. He will live in my heart forever."
Along with the other members of Jefferson Airplane, Spencer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Remarking that he wanted go out on a high note and be remembered in a positive light, the evening would mark his second-to-last musical performance ever.
Spencer Dryden is survived by his son Jes (San Francisco, California) from his marriage to Sally Mann, Jackson (Novato, California) from his relationship with Kathy Miller, and Jeffrey (Houston, Texas) from his marriage to Jeannie Davis, along with his mother Alice Judd (Glendale, California), sisters Ginny Ramsdell (Sun City, Arizona) and Marillyn Morris (Queensland, Australia), and 5 grandchildren, Aaron, Lauren, Christen, Meagan, and Jessica (Houston, Texas).
The family has established a web site, www.spencerdryden.com, to provide information regarding memorial plans and donations.
