Alexander "Skip" Spence (born Alexander Lee Spence, Jr.; April 18, 1946 – April 16, 1999) was a Canadian-born American singer-songwriter and musician. He was co-founder of

Moby Grape Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966. Part of San Francisco's psychedelic music scene, the band merged elements of rock and roll, folk music, pop, blues, and country. They were one of the few groups of which all members were lea ...

, and played guitar with them until 1969. In the same year, he released his only solo album, '' Oar'', and then largely withdrew from the music industry. He had started his career as a guitarist in an early line-up of

Quicksilver Messenger Service Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, ...

, and was the drummer on

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...

's debut album, ''

Jefferson Airplane Takes Off ''Jefferson Airplane Takes Off'' is the debut studio album by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane, released on August 15, 1966, by RCA Victor. The personnel differs from the later "classic" lineup: Signe Toly Anderson was the female vocali ...

''. He has been described on the

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

website as "one of psychedelia's brightest lights"; however, his career was plagued by drug addiction coupled with mental health problems, and he has been described by a biographer as a man who "neither died young nor had a chance to find his way out."

Biography

Early life: 1946–1965

Alexander Lee Spence was born in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

, Canada on April 18, 1946. His father, Alexander Lett "Jock" Spence (1914–1965),Alexander Lett Spence
Distinguished Flying Cross Citation
; airforce.ca; retrieved 2013-02-09; "Alexander Lett Spence later resided in Flower Station, Ontario, a small community in the Lanark Highlands of eastern Ontario, before moving to

. Spence received the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery during a raid on Aulnoye, as a member of the 434 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Spence died in San Jose, California on May 1, 1965 at age 50. His body was returned to Canada and interred at Clyde Forks Cemetery, in

Lanark County Lanark County is a county and Census divisions of Canada, census division located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its county seat is Perth, Ontario, Perth, which was first settled in 1816Brown, Howard Morton, 1984. Lanark Legacy, Nineteenth ...

, Ontario." was a machinist, a salesman, and played

Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

as a solo singer-songwriter and piano player. He was also a decorated Canadian World War II bomber pilot, having been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In the late 1950s, the family relocated from Windsor to

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, when Spence's father found work in the aircraft industry. His parents gave him his first guitar when he was 10.

Music career: 1966–1969

Spence was a guitarist in the band The Other Side before

Marty Balin Martyn Jerel Buchwald (January 30, 1942 – September 27, 2018), known as Marty Balin (), was an American singer, songwriter, and musician best known as a member of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. Early life Balin was born Martyn Je ...

recruited him to be the drummer for

(apparently because he looked the part). He has been described as "a key member of the

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

60s

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

scene." Spence drummed on their debut, ''

'', which was recorded before

Grace Slick Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American painter and retired musician whose musical career spanned four decades. She was a prominent figure in San Francisco's psychedelic music scene during the mid-1960s to the earl ...

joined the group. The band dismissed him after he took an unannounced vacation in Mexico. He wrote the song " My Best Friend", which was released on Jefferson Airplane's second album '' Surrealistic Pillow'' and as a single, although Spence didn't play on the song. He briefly considered joining

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a Canadian-American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1966 by Canadians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin (musician), Dewey Martin and Americans Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely know ...

as a drummer before returning to the guitar to co-found

. During the recording session of Moby Grape's second album, '' Wow'' in 1968, Spence attempted to break down a bandmate's hotel room door with a fire axe while under the influence of

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...

. Spence's deterioration in New York and the "fire axe incident" are described by bandmate Jerry Miller as follows:

Skippy changed radically when we were in New York. There were some people there that were into harder drugs and a harder lifestyle, and some very weird shit. And so he kind of flew off with those people. Skippy kind of disappeared for a little while. Next time we saw him, he had cut off his beard, and was wearing a black leather jacket, with his chest hanging out, with some chains and just sweating like a son of a gun. I don't know what the hell he got a hold of, man, but it just whacked him. And the next thing I know, he axed my door down in the Albert Hotel. They said at the reception area that this crazy guy had held an axe to the doorman's head.

Bandmate Peter Lewis describes Don Stevenson as also being the target of Spence, and what happened to him afterwards:

We had to do he albumin New York because the producer avid Rubinsonwanted to be with his family. So we had to leave our families and spend months at a time in hotel rooms in New York City. Finally I just quit and went back to California. I got a phone call after a couple of days. They'd played a
Fillmore East The Fillmore East was Promoter (entertainment), rock promoter Bill Graham (promoter), Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue (Manhattan), Second Avenue near 6th Street (Manhattan), East 6th Street on the Lower East Side section of Manhattan, ...
gig without me, and Skippy took off with some black witch afterward who fed him full of
acid An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. Hydron, hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis ...
. It was like that scene in The Doors movie. He thought he was the anti-Christ. He tried to chop down the hotel room door with a fire axe to kill Don tevensonto save him from himself. He went up to the 52nd floor of the CBS building where they had to wrestle him to the ground. And Rubinson pressed charges against him. They took him to
The Tombs The Tombs was the colloquial name for Manhattan Detention Complex (formerly the Bernard B. Kerik Complex during 2001–2006), a former municipal jail at 125 White Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It was also the nickname for three prev ...
otorious prison in New Yorkand that's where he wrote ''Oar''. When he got out of there, he cut that album in
Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
. And that was the end of his career. They shot him full of
Thorazine Chlorpromazine (CPZ), marketed under the brand names Thorazine and Largactil among others, is an antipsychotic medication. It is primarily used to treat psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Other uses include the treatment of bipolar dis ...
for six months. They just take you out of the game.

In June 1968 Spence was admitted to

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States ...

in New York; during his six-month stay he was diagnosed with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

. According to an urban myth, on the day of his release, clad in pajamas he drove a motorcycle directly to Nashville to record his only solo album, with the help of no other musicians, the now-classic psychedelic/folk album '' Oar'' (1969,

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

Decline: 1970–1999

During the early 1970s Spence also founded and experimented with a three-man rock band called Pachuca and later a larger ensemble called The Rhythm Dukes. He continued to have minor involvement in later Moby Grape projects and reunions. He contributed to '' 20 Granite Creek'' (1971) and '' Live Grape'' (1978), though his bandmates always included at least one of his songs on group recordings, irrespective of whether he was capable of performing with the group at the time. He had been similarly remembered by

, whereby his song " My Best Friend" was included on the group's '' Surrealistic Pillow'' album (1967), despite his departure from the group. Due to his deteriorating state and notwithstanding that he was no longer functioning in the band, Spence was supported by Moby Grape band members for extended periods. Voluminous consumption of heroin and cocaine resulted in a further involuntary committal for Spence. As described by Peter Lewis, "Skippy was just hanging around. He hadn't been all there for years, because he'd been into heroin all that time. In fact he actually OD'ed once and they had him in the morgue in San Jose with a tag on his toe. All of a sudden he got up and asked for a glass of water. Now he was snortin' big clumps of coke, and nothing would happen to him. We couldn't have him around because he'd be pacing the room, describing axe murders. So we got him a little place of his own. He had a little white rat named Oswald that would snort coke too. He'd never washed his dishes, and he'd try to get these little grammar school girls to go into the house with him. He was real bad. One of the parents finally called the cops, and they took him to the County Mental Health Hospital in Santa Cruz. Where they immediately lost him, and he turned up days later in the women's ward." Mental illness, drug addiction, and alcoholism thus prevented Spence from sustaining a career in the music industry. He spent many of his years in third-party care, as a ward of the State of California, and either homeless or in transient accommodations in his later years. He remained in and around San Jose and Santa Cruz. Peter Lewis regularly visited Spence during the latter years of his life: "The last five years I'd go up‚ he lived in a trailer up there‚ Capitola. I used to hang around with him; we'd spend the weekends together. But he just basically kind of hit the...he was helpless in a way in terms of being able to define anything or control his feelings." In 1994, he participated in a music program for the mentally ill, sponsored by the City of San Jose. Two years later, in 1996, he was commissioned to write a song for ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...

'' soundtrack, '' Songs in the Key of X;'' it wasn't used, but it was included on the ''More Oar'' tribute record as " Land of the Sun". Spence's final performance with Moby Grape occurred on August 9, 1996, at Palookaville in Santa Cruz. At this final show, Spence led the group through a rendition of "Sailing" (a song performed during the 1971 reunion run) and an impromptu performance of "J.P.P. McStep B. Blues", which he'd written for Jefferson Airplane in 1966.

Death

Spence died of lung cancer on April 16, 1999, two days short of his 53rd birthday. He was survived by his four children, eleven grandchildren, half-brother Rich Young, and sister Sherry Ferreira.John Pareles
Skip Spence, Psychedelic Musician, Dies at 52
Nytimes.com, April 18, 1999; accessed December 31, 2015. '' More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album'', an album featuring contributions from

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo ca ...

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

, and

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

, among others, was released a few weeks after his death. Prior to its release, the CD was played for Spence at the hospital, in his final stages before death. Spence is interred at Soquel Cemetery in Santa Cruz County.

Legacy

Spence has been described on the Allmusic website as "one of psychedelia's brightest lights". Spence wrote "Omaha" for Moby Grape's first album which ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' listed in 2008 as one of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time. In June 2008, a Skip Spence tribute concert was held in Santa Cruz. The concert featured Spence's son Omar, who has sung with various configurations of Moby Grape in recent years. Omar Spence, singing his father's songs, was backed by the Santa Cruz White Album Ensemble, with Dale Ockerman and

Tiran Porter Tiran Calvin Porter (born September 26, 1948) is an American bass and guitar player, vocalist and composer, best known as a member of The Doobie Brothers from 1972 to 1980 and 1987 to 1992. Biography Early life Born in Los Angeles, California, ...

, both formerly of the Doobie Brothers, and both of whom have played with various members of Moby Grape in several bands over the past three decades. Don Stevenson (an original Moby Grape member) also performed. Keith Graves of

played drums. Peter Lewis joined the group onstage for the finale. An additional Skip Spence tribute concert was held in October 2008.

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...

paid tribute to Spence in his collection of essays, '' Distrust That Particular Flavor'', in which he marvelled at his tailor-adjusted jeans. In April 2024, a new biography about Spence's life, by Cam Cobb and Robin Spence, was published, titled ''Weighted Down: The Complicated Life of Skip Spence''. In June 2024, multiple artists of the San Francisco psychedelic and alternative rock scenes paid tribute to Spence with a tribute concert.

Discography

With Jefferson Airplane

*''

'' (

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

, 1966) ;Compilations *''

Early Flight ''Early Flight'' is a 1974 compilation album by the American psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, released as Grunt CYL1-0437. It features previously unreleased material from 1966, 1967, and 1970 as well as both sides of a non-album 1970 s ...

'' (RCA, 1974) *'' Jefferson Airplane Loves You'' (RCA, 1992)

With Moby Grape

;Original albums *''

'' ( Columbia, 1967) *'' Wow/Grape Jam'' (Columbia, 1968) *''

Moby Grape '69 ''Moby Grape '69'' is the third album by the psychedelic rock band Moby Grape, released on January 30, 1969. It is the first album after the departure of co-founder Skip Spence. Spence nonetheless is heard on one song, "Seeing", presumably fro ...

'' (Columbia, 1969) *'' 20 Granite Creek'' (

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any re ...

, 1971) *'' Live Grape'' (Escape, 1978) *'' The Place and the Time'' ( Sundazed, 2009) *'' Moby Grape Live'' (Sundazed, 2010) ;Compilations *''Omaha'' (

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

, 1971) *'' Great Grape'' (Columbia, 1972) *''Murder in My Heart'' (Edsel, 1986) *'' Vintage: The Very Best of Moby Grape'' (Columbia/Legacy, 1993) *'' Crosstalk: The Best of Moby Grape'' (Sony International, 2004) *'' Listen My Friends! The Best of Moby Grape'' (Columbia/Legacy, 2007)

Solo

Studio album

*'' Oar'' (Columbia, 1969), remastered and expanded in 1999 by Sundazed

Other release

*''AndOarAgain'' (Columbia, 1969), remastered and expanded "Oar" with three discs (Modern Harmonic/Sundazed) (2018)

Single releases

*" Land of the Sun" (Sundazed, 1999) *"After Gene Autry" b/w "Motorcycle Irene" (aka ''Previously Unissued Demo Recordings'') (Sundazed, 2009) * "I Want A Rock & Roll Band" b/w " I Got A Lot To Say / Mary Jane" (Modern Harmonic/Columbia, 2019)https://www.discogs.com/release/13489274-Alexander-Skip-Spence-I-Want-A-Rock-Roll-Band - Side B previously unreleased. Issued for

Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...

2019

Compilation appearances

*''Psychodelia'' (MCI, 1994) - "War in Peace" *''Psychodelic'' Frequencies (

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

, 1996) - "War in Peace" *''L'odyssee Du Rock'' (Sony Music Media/Sony, 2004) 4XLP - "Cripple Creek" *''Meridian 1970 (Protest, Sorrow, Hobos, Folk and Blues)'' ( Forever Heavenly/

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

, 2005) - "Cripple Creek" * ''Woodstock Generation'' (

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

, 2009) MP3 - "War in Peace" *''Pure...Psychedelic Rock'' (Sony Music), 2010) 4XCD - "War in Peace" *''Come on Back to The War'' (

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

, 2011) cassette - "Margret Tiger Rug" *''The Anniversary of Light'' (Mississippi, 2013) cassette - "Weighted Down" *''Bobby Gillespie Presents Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down'' (

Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

, 2015) - "War in Peace" *''Institute-A Mixed Tape Made By Institute'' ( Sacred Bones, 2015) ltd. edition cassette - "Cripple Creek" *''Between the Music Vol. One'' (End of the Road, 2022) 2XLP - "Cripple Creek" *''Music For The Stars (Celestial Music 1960-1979)'' (Two Piers, 2022) 2XLP/CD - "Broken Heart" *''Who Has Seen The Wind'' (Mississippi) cassette - "Broken Heart"

Tribute album

*'' More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album'' ( Birdman, 1999)

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Skip 1946 births 1999 deaths 20th-century American drummers 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singer-songwriters 20th-century Canadian drummers 20th-century Canadian guitarists 20th-century Canadian male singers American male drummers American male guitarists American male singer-songwriters American rock drummers American rock guitarists American rock singers American rock songwriters Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian male drummers Canadian male guitarists Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian rock drummers Canadian rock guitarists Canadian rock singers Deaths from lung cancer in California Guitarists from California Jefferson Airplane members Moby Grape members Musicians from San Jose, California Musicians from Santa Cruz, California Musicians from Windsor, Ontario Outsider musicians People from Capitola, California People with schizophrenia Psychedelic folk musicians Psychedelic rock musicians Quicksilver Messenger Service members Singer-songwriters from California 20th-century Canadian singer-songwriters Drummers from California