Marty Balin born 30 January 1942

Marty Balin (January 30, 1942 – September 27, 2018), was an American singer, songwriter, and musician best known as the founder and one of the lead singers and songwriters of the Californian psychedelic rock group Jefferson Airplane and a member on several occasions of its sequel, Jefferson Starship. 

Martyn Jerel Buchwald was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Catherine and Joseph Buchwald. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Eastern Europe. His father was Jewish and his mother was Episcopalian. Buchwald attended Washington High School in San Francisco, California. Later while studying at the San Francisco School of Art and aspiring to be a master with brushes, he participated in a performance of 'West Side Story', which sparked a sudden passion for music. 

Anderson & Balin

In 1962, Buchwald changed his name to Marty Balin, and began recording with Challenge Records, releasing the singles "Nobody But You" and "I Specialize in Love". By 1964, Balin was leading a folk music quartet called The Town Criers.  After the invasion of the British groups, and inspired by the success of the folk-rock fusion of The Byrds and Simon & Garfunkel, he decided to form a group to explore in that direction. 

With a group of investors, he transforms an old pizzeria into a music club, The Matrix, and sets out in search of musicians for his project, Jefferson Airplane. The first line-up included, in addition to Balin (lead vocals), Skip Spence (drums), Signe Anderson (lead vocals), Jack Casady (bass), Jorma Kaukonen (guitar) and Paul Kantner (guitar and vocals). A year later, Spencer Dryden replaces Spence on drums and Grace Slick to Signe Anderson in one of the solo voices. 

What began as a folk-rock project became a standard-bearer of the incipient psychedelic scene in San Francisco, achieving with their album 'Surrealistic Pillow' (1967), a resounding success that produced them a gold record. Although Grace Slick took center stage on hits like 'Somebody to love' and 'White rabbit', Balin's tenor voice was a very distinctive aspect of the band's sound. Balin contributed compositions such as ‘Today’, 'Share a little joke' and ‘Volunteers’. In 1971 he left the group due to constant ego struggles with Kantner and Slick and formed the short-lived group Bodacious DF., with whom he records a self-titled album that is published two years later without repercussion. 

In 1974, Paul Kantner, who had formed Jefferson Starship, asked him for a song for the new album and together they composed ' Caroline', whose lead vocal was Balin and was included on the album 'Dragon Fly'. A year later he officially joins the group and composes, for many, their best song, 'Miracles', which reached the Top5 and was the band's greatest success. He was also the solo voice on songs like 'With your love' and 'Count on me', but in 1978 he left the group again, to concentrate on production work for the rock opera 'Rock Justice'. 

                             

He continued as a solo artist and in 1981 published his first album, 'Balin', which contained the hits 'Hearts' and 'Atlanta Lady'. The album that followed 'Lucky' (1983) did not have the same luck and Balin formed the KBC group with Kantner and Jack Casady, with whom he published 'KBC Band' (1985) with the songs ' America ' and ' It's not you, it's not me ' , which are moderate hits on US FM stations. In 1989 the three would participate in a Jefferson Airplane reunion that spawned a studio album and tour before breaking up again. 

In 1991, Balin published 'Better Generation' and two years later he reunited with Kantner in the latest reincarnation of Jefferson Starship, with whom he remained until 2003, although he continued to appear with them on special occasions. Balin, along with the other members of the 1966–1970 line-up of Jefferson Airplane, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Released in 1999, Marty Balin's Greatest Hits assembled re-recordings of past favourites. 

In 2003, Balin issued the self-titled CD Marty Balin, beginning a successful run of independent albums issued on his Balince Music label that would continue through the 2000s. In 2011 'The Witcher' was published and his last published album was 'The Greatest Love' in 2016. As a member of Jefferson Airplane, he was honoured with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. 

While on tour in March 2016, Balin was taken to Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in New York City after complaining of chest pains. After undergoing open-heart surgery, he was transferred to an intensive-care unit to spend time recovering. In a subsequent lawsuit, Balin alleged that neglect and inadequate care facilities on the hospital's part had resulted in a paralyzed vocal cord, loss of his left thumb and half of his tongue, bedsores, and kidney damage. He died on September 2018 in Tampa, Florida at the age of 76. 

(Edited from Efemerides Musicales & Wikipedia)