Spencer Dryden
Encyclopedia
Spencer Dryden was an American
music
ian best known as the longest-serving drummer
for Jefferson Airplane
. He also played with New Riders of the Purple Sage
, The Dinosaurs
, and The Peanut Butter Conspiracy
.
to Alice Chapple, a member of the Radio City
Ballet Company, and Wheeler Dryden
, a British actor who was the half-brother of Charlie Chaplin
. Dryden often concealed this information, preferring to be judged on his own abilities, rather than on his uncle's name He moved to Los Angeles
as an infant, when his father went to work as an assistant director for Chaplin. Spencer fondly recalled playing at his famous uncle's Hollywood studio as a child. His father was a jazz fan, and took him to LA jazz clubs in the 1950s, which inspired his musical ambitions.
as the drummer in leading San Francisco psychedelic band Jefferson Airplane
. The former jazzer, together with bassist Jack Casady
, created an exceptional rhythm section. A feature of live Airplane sets at the time were free-form improvisational jams, with Dryden's licks complementing Casady's fluid style, examples of which can be heard on "Thing" and "Bear Melt" from Bless Its Pointed Little Head
. During this time also, he had an affair with Grace Slick
.
The song "Lather
", appearing on the Airplane's Crown of Creation
, is said to have been written by Grace Slick on the occasion of Dryden's 30th birthday. Its lyrics tell of a boy who stays as young as possible until one day when he is shattered by having to finally grow up. The instrumental sections are wild and purposefully discordant. On the news of his death, Slick and other bandmembers wrote tributes to Dryden that appeared on the group's website. Slick's ends with this: "Lather was 30 years old today, they took away all of his toys." - Grace Slick (January 13, 2005)".
In 1969, music critic Ralph J. Gleason published The Jefferson Airplane and the San Francisco Sound. The book included an engaging forty-four page interview with Dryden.
Dryden quit Jefferson Airplane in February 1970, motivated in part by the group's unpleasant experiences at the notorious Altamont Festival, during which lead singer Marty Balin
was knocked unconscious by Hells Angels
bikers and a festival patron, Meredith Hunter
, was fatally stabbed. Dryden seemed to have some sense of foreboding about the concert, as he initially did not want to play, saying the "vibes" were wrong.
and Barry Melton
's band before retiring
from drumming in 1995.
along with the rest of Jefferson Airplane, playing with the band for the first time since 1970. He joined the group onstage for the last time in 2003, with the Jefferson Starship Gallactic Reunion.
He needed hip replacement
and heart surgeries in the few years before his death. In 2004, several musicians, led by Bob Weir
of the Grateful Dead
and Warren Haynes
(Gov't Mule
and the Allman Brothers Band
), raised US$36,000 to help pay Dryden's medical bills. He had also lost his home due to a fire in 2003; later in 2004, he was diagnosed with cancer. The benefit re-kindled Spencer's friendship with Jefferson Airplane band member Jorma Kaukonen
, who remembered him fondly for the way he said, "Aww, MAN!!" It was not until 2004 that Kaukonen became aware that Spencer was the nephew of Charlie Chaplin. Spencer's last public appearance was with Jefferson Airplane bandmembers in 2004, at a DVD party for the release of the group's Fly documentary.
Spencer died from colon cancer (intestinal cancer which spread to his liver) on January 11, 2005. He lived in relative obscurity, reportedly living in a small house with a few acres on rented property in Penngrove, California
. Married three times, he was survived by his three sons Jeffrey, Jesse and Jackson Dryden, five grandchildren, and his mother Alice Chapple Judd, who died on December 25, 2005 at the age of 94.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
ian best known as the longest-serving drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
for Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
. He also played with New Riders of the Purple Sage
New Riders of the Purple Sage
New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco, California in 1969, and its original lineup included several members of the Grateful Dead. Their best known song is "Panama Red"...
, The Dinosaurs
The Dinosaurs
The Dinosaurs, formed in 1982, was a Bay Area supergroup to emerge from the psychedelic music era of San Francisco. The group consisted of Peter Albin of Big Brother and the Holding Company, John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Papa John Creach of Hot Tuna, Spencer Dryden of Jefferson...
, and The Peanut Butter Conspiracy
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy was an American psychedelic pop/rock group in the 1960s.They formed in Los Angeles in August 1966 out of the folk-rock group "The Ashes", who included John Merrill , Barbara "Sandi" Robison , Alan Brackett , Spencer Dryden , and Jim Cherniss...
.
Early life
Dryden was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Alice Chapple, a member of the Radio City
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
Ballet Company, and Wheeler Dryden
Wheeler Dryden
George Dryden WHEELER was an English actor and film director, the son of Hannah Chaplin and music hall entertainer Leo Dryden and thus the half brother of Charles and Sydney Chaplin...
, a British actor who was the half-brother of Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
. Dryden often concealed this information, preferring to be judged on his own abilities, rather than on his uncle's name He moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
as an infant, when his father went to work as an assistant director for Chaplin. Spencer fondly recalled playing at his famous uncle's Hollywood studio as a child. His father was a jazz fan, and took him to LA jazz clubs in the 1950s, which inspired his musical ambitions.
Jefferson Airplane
In mid-1966 Dryden was recruited to replace Skip SpenceSkip Spence
Alexander Lee "Skip" Spence was a Canadian-born musician and singer-songwriter. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. He released one solo album, 1969's Oar, and then largely withdrew from the music industry...
as the drummer in leading San Francisco psychedelic band Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
. The former jazzer, together with bassist Jack Casady
Jack Casady
Jack Casady , is an American musician considered one of the foremost bass guitarists of the rock music era and best known as a member of Jefferson Airplane. First playing as a lead guitarist with the Washington D.C...
, created an exceptional rhythm section. A feature of live Airplane sets at the time were free-form improvisational jams, with Dryden's licks complementing Casady's fluid style, examples of which can be heard on "Thing" and "Bear Melt" from Bless Its Pointed Little Head
Bless Its Pointed Little Head
Bless Its Pointed Little Head is a live album by Jefferson Airplane recorded at both the Fillmore East and West in the fall of 1968 and released in 1969. Five songs on the album had not appeared on any of the band's previous studio recordings. The songs that did appear on previous albums, however,...
. During this time also, he had an affair with Grace Slick
Grace Slick
Grace Slick is an American singer and songwriter, who was one of the lead singers of the rock groups The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship, and was a solo artist, for nearly three decades, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s...
.
The song "Lather
Lather (song)
Lather is a song by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane. It is the opening track on the 1968 album Crown of Creation and was the B-Side for the single of the same name.- Meaning :...
", appearing on the Airplane's Crown of Creation
Crown of Creation
-Personnel:*Marty Balin – vocals, rhythm guitar*Grace Slick – vocals, piano, organ*Paul Kantner – rhythm guitar, vocals*Jorma Kaukonen – lead guitar, electric chicken, vocals*Spencer Dryden – drums, piano, organ, steel balls, vocals...
, is said to have been written by Grace Slick on the occasion of Dryden's 30th birthday. Its lyrics tell of a boy who stays as young as possible until one day when he is shattered by having to finally grow up. The instrumental sections are wild and purposefully discordant. On the news of his death, Slick and other bandmembers wrote tributes to Dryden that appeared on the group's website. Slick's ends with this: "Lather was 30 years old today, they took away all of his toys." - Grace Slick (January 13, 2005)".
In 1969, music critic Ralph J. Gleason published The Jefferson Airplane and the San Francisco Sound. The book included an engaging forty-four page interview with Dryden.
Dryden quit Jefferson Airplane in February 1970, motivated in part by the group's unpleasant experiences at the notorious Altamont Festival, during which lead singer Marty Balin
Marty Balin
Marty Balin is an American musician. He is best known as the founder and one of the lead singers of the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane.-Early life:Martyn Buchwald was born in Cincinnati, Ohio...
was knocked unconscious by Hells Angels
Hells Angels
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
bikers and a festival patron, Meredith Hunter
Meredith Hunter
Meredith Curly Hunter was a male spectator at the Altamont Free Concert. During the performance by The Rolling Stones, Hunter pulled out a gun after being punched by a Hells Angel and was then stabbed to death by a Hells Angel serving as a security guard...
, was fatally stabbed. Dryden seemed to have some sense of foreboding about the concert, as he initially did not want to play, saying the "vibes" were wrong.
New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Dinosaurs
Dryden left the music business for a short period, and returned to drumming as a member of The New Riders of the Purple Sage. He performed and recorded with them from late 1970 until 1977, at which point he became the manager of the band. After leaving the New Riders, Dryden went on to play a lengthy stint with The DinosaursThe Dinosaurs
The Dinosaurs, formed in 1982, was a Bay Area supergroup to emerge from the psychedelic music era of San Francisco. The group consisted of Peter Albin of Big Brother and the Holding Company, John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Papa John Creach of Hot Tuna, Spencer Dryden of Jefferson...
and Barry Melton
Barry Melton
Barry "The Fish" Melton was the co-founder and original lead guitarist of Country Joe and The Fish. Barry appears on all the Country Joe and The Fish recordings and he also wrote some of the songs that the band recorded...
's band before retiring
Retirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
from drumming in 1995.
Later life
Spencer did not participate in Jefferson Airplane's 1989 reunion. In 1996, Dryden was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of FameRock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
along with the rest of Jefferson Airplane, playing with the band for the first time since 1970. He joined the group onstage for the last time in 2003, with the Jefferson Starship Gallactic Reunion.
He needed hip replacement
Hip replacement
Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi replacement. Such joint replacement orthopaedic surgery generally is conducted to relieve arthritis pain or fix severe...
and heart surgeries in the few years before his death. In 2004, several musicians, led by Bob Weir
Bob Weir
Bob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead...
of the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
and Warren Haynes
Warren Haynes
Warren Haynes is an American rock and blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. Haynes is best known for his work as long time guitarist with The Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was a guitarist for David Allan Coe and The Dickey...
(Gov't Mule
Gov't Mule
Gov't Mule is a Southern rock jam band formed in 1994 as an Allman Brothers Band side project by Warren Haynes and Allen Woody.The band released their debut album Gov't Mule in 1995...
and the Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band is an American rock/blues band once based in Macon, Georgia. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman , who were supported by Dickey Betts , Berry Oakley , Butch Trucks , and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe"...
), raised US$36,000 to help pay Dryden's medical bills. He had also lost his home due to a fire in 2003; later in 2004, he was diagnosed with cancer. The benefit re-kindled Spencer's friendship with Jefferson Airplane band member Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen Jr. is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist, best known for his work with Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna.-Biography:...
, who remembered him fondly for the way he said, "Aww, MAN!!" It was not until 2004 that Kaukonen became aware that Spencer was the nephew of Charlie Chaplin. Spencer's last public appearance was with Jefferson Airplane bandmembers in 2004, at a DVD party for the release of the group's Fly documentary.
Spencer died from colon cancer (intestinal cancer which spread to his liver) on January 11, 2005. He lived in relative obscurity, reportedly living in a small house with a few acres on rented property in Penngrove, California
Penngrove, California
Penngrove is a census-designated place in Sonoma County, California, United States, situated between the cities of Petaluma and Cotati, at the foot of Sonoma Mountain. It is part of the North Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area...
. Married three times, he was survived by his three sons Jeffrey, Jesse and Jackson Dryden, five grandchildren, and his mother Alice Chapple Judd, who died on December 25, 2005 at the age of 94.