Dabney Roger "Darby" Slick (born 1944) is an American guitarist and songwriter, best known as a former member of The Great Society, and as the writer of the

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...

song " Somebody to Love." In 1965, he co-founded The Great Society with his brother Jerry Slick, Jenn Piersol, and his sister-in-law

Grace Slick Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter, artist, and painter. Slick was a key figure in San Francisco's early psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s. With a music career spanning four decades, s ...

( David Miner and Bard Du Pont joined shortly afterward). Darby played lead guitar and occasionally performed backup vocals early on and less often towards the disbanding. He wrote some other songs for The Great Society, including "Free Advice" and "Darkly Smiling."

"Somebody to Love"

Originally under the title "Mind Full of Bread," the composition was created during Slick's process of creating a novel, which started in 1962. Slick spent time writing and playing jam sessions with his guitar. Periodically, he spent less time writing a novel and more time writing the composition. The song was complete in 1965 after Slick ended a relationship. His intent for the piece was to go against the cliche of wanting love as a theme for a song and instead giving love. The song was released as a single under the North Beach label. It was released as "Someone to Love" with the B-side "Free Advice" but the single's distribution was limited and made little impact at the time. When Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane recorded the song, it became a top 10 hit on the national charts. Darby Slick wrote other compositions like "Free Advice" that largely were influenced by Indian music that he studied after the band broke up.

After The Great Society

After Slick's time with the band, he took an interest in Indian music. He took several trips to India to learn more about the genre. Slick published an autobiography in 1991 titled ''Don't You Want Somebody to Love'' detailing his time with the band and lessons while on trips to India.

Bibliography

Discography

In addition to his work with The Great Society, Darby worked in the 1990s on an album with his son Jor Slick (''Sandoland'', Taxim Records) and a solo album (''King of the Fretless Guitar'' (1998), Taxim Records). Taxim Records site

References

External links

* 1944 births Living people American male songwriters Place of birth missing (living people)