Loading details…
Artist
Marty Balin
12+ albums
classic rock80spoprockoldies
about
Marty Balin (Martyn Jerel Buchwald, 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 Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. Balin was born Martyn Jerel Buchwald in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Catherine Eugenia "Jean" (née Talbot) and Joseph Buchwald. His paternal grandparents immigrated from Eastern Europe. His father was Jewish and his mother was Episcopalian. Buchwald attended Washington High School in San Francisco, California. 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. Balin was the primary founder of Jefferson Airplane, which he "launched" from a restaurant-turned-club he created and named the Matrix, and was also one of its lead vocalists and songwriters from 1965 to 1971. In the group's famous 1966-1971 iteration, Balin served as co-lead vocalist alongside Grace Slick and rhythm guitarist Paul Kantner. While his output diminished after Surrealistic Pillow (1967) as Slick, Kantner, and lead guitarist Jorma Kaukonen matured as songwriters (a process compounded by Balin's eschewal of the group's burgeoning "ego trips"), his most enduring songwriting contributions—which were often imbued with a romantic, pop-oriented lilt that was atypical of the band's characteristi
