Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American painter and former singer-songwriter. Slick was a key figure in San Francisco's early psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s. With a music career spanning four decades, she first performed with the Great Society, but is best known for her work with Jefferson Airplane and the subsequent successor bands Jefferson Starship and Starship. Slick and Jefferson Airplane first achieved fame with their 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow, which included the top-ten Billboard hits "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love". She provided the lead vocals on both tracks. With Starship, she sang co-lead for two number one hits, "We Built This City" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". She also released four solo albums. Slick retired from music in 1990, but continues to be active in the visual arts field. Slick was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a member of Jefferson Airplane. Early life Grace Barnett Wing was born October 30, 1939, in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, to Ivan Wilford Wing (1907–1987), of British descent, and Virginia Wing (née Barnett; 1909–1983). Her parents met while they were both students at the University of Washington, and later married. In 1949, her brother Chris was born. Her father, working in the investment banking sector for Weeden and Company, was transferred several times when she was a child, and in addition to the Chicago metropolitan area, she lived in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, before her family finally settled in Palo Alto, California, in the early 1950s. Wing attended Palo Alto Senior High School, then switched to Castilleja School, a private all-girls school in Palo Alto. Following graduation, she attended Finch College in New York City from 1957 to 1958, and the University of Miami in Coral Gables from 1958 to 1959. On August 26, 1961, Wing married Gerald "Jerry" Slick, an aspiring filmmaker, and after the couple briefly moved away from San Francisco, Grace Slick worked as a model at an I. Magnin department store for three years. Slick also started composing music, including a contribution to a short film by Jerry Slick. Career 1965–1966: The Great Society In August 1965, Slick read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the newly formed Jefferson Airplane. Despite being situated in the growing musical center of San Francisco, Slick only half-heartedly considered music