Craig Chaquico

The Jefferson Starship guitarist on his days as a touring teenage sensation and fighting the “corporate rock” tag

- BY JOE BOSSO

AT AGE 16, Craig Chaquico was living a double life: high school student by day, session guitarist by night. The gifted young Bay Area guitarist had already been playing in a band called Steelwind, led by his English teacher, who introduced him to Jefferson Airplane founder Paul Kantner. Soon, Chaquico was tapped to play on solo albums by Kantner and his Jefferson Airplane partner, singer Grace Slick.

“It was pretty crazy,” Chaquico says. “I was recording songs with Jerry Garcia and some of my Bay Area heroes, but it wasn't automatic rock-star fame because I'd still have to go home, ride my bicycle to school and keep my grades up, or else my parents would throw my guitar in the trash.”

Following the Jefferson Airplane's breakup in 1973, Kantner and Slick formed Jefferson Starship and asked Chaquico to come on board for a six-week tour. Most parents would have panic attacks at the thought of their young son traveling the country with band members well into their thirties (and some noted partyers at that), but as Chaquico recalls, “My dad was down on it, but my mom figured, ‘It's just one tour. He'll go and get it out of his system. He's got a good head on his shoulders. He's not going to turn into a drug addict.”

While the last part of his mother's prediction held true, Chaquico didn't stay for just one tour. Instead, he joined the new band as an official member. The guitarist contributed ripping solos on the group's 1974 debut, Dragon Fly, which included Kantner's rocking single, “Ride the Tiger,” and a year later, on Red Octopus, he proved to be an indispensable songwriting collaborator on songs like “Fast Buck Freddie” and “Sweeter Than Honey.” Former Airplane co-vocalist Marty Balin had by now joined the group, and it was his hypnotic ballad “Miracles” (which featured Chaquico's tasteful soloing) that boosted the album to Number 1 on Billboard.