Grace Slick ( born Grace Barnett Wing ; October 30 , 1939 ) is an American singer-songwriter from Evanston , Illinois . She is known for being the lead singer of bands like Jefferson Airplane , Jefferson Starship and Starship . Grace Slick ( born Grace Barnett Wing ; October 30 , 1939 ) 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 .