By MINDY BASI
Ford County Chronicle correspondent
GIBSON CITY — Gibson Area Hospital’s annual Summer Bash on Saturday, Aug. 17, brings the iconic rock band Jefferson Starship to downtown Gibson City, where it will perform historic hits like “We Built This City” and “Nothing is Going to Stop Us Now” for the large crowd expected to be on hand.
Chicago resident Cathy Richardson, the band’s lead singer since 2008, anchors the role originally held by Grace Slick when Jefferson Starship was formed in 1974 in San Francisco, Calif., by a group of musicians who included former members of Jefferson Airplane. While the band’s name was retired in 1984, it was picked up again in 1992 by a revival of the group led by one of its original members, Paul Kantner.
Richardson has previously been with Chicago-area bands CRB, Macrodots and Nelson Street Revival, as well as the Cathy Richardson Band. She has released seven independent albums, including “The Road to Bliss,” which was nominated in 2003 for a Grammy Award for art direction. Richardson starred as Janis Joplin in the original Off-Broadway cast of “Love, Janis” and has taken the role on the road across the country. As a result of her role in the play, she toured as the lead singer with Joplin’s original rock band, Big Brother and the Holding Company. Her most recent solo release is a single, “What I Am.”
On Tuesday, Aug. 13 — in advance of her band’s appearance in downtown Gibson City as the opener for Bret Michaels — Richardson joined Ford County Chronicle correspondent Mindy Basi in a phone conversation to talk about her role in Jefferson Starship and her musical career. Following is a sampling of the give-and-take:
Members of Jefferson Starship pose for a publicity photo. The band performed during Gibson Area Hospital & Health Services’ annual Summer Bash in downtown Gibson City over the weekend.
Courtesy of Gianna Duran, manager of publicity for Primary Wave
Q: How did you come to hold your current role as lead vocalist for Jefferson Starship? Were you always a fan of the band?
CR: I was a fan of Jefferson Starship when I was a kid, but I didn’t know about Jefferson Airplane. So I went out and bought “The Worst of Jefferson Airplane” (a compilation album), and I played (the song) “White Rabbit” over and over so many times that my mom knocked on my door to ask me if I was OK. I just started collecting all the albums — just became a huge fan. Many years later, when I was singing with the Janis Joplin band Big Brother and the Holding Company, we were going on tour with Jefferson Starship. I was so excited to go on tour with them. I met them; they met me; they liked me, and we were mutual fans. Then, their lead singer was leaving and they asked if I would like to join them. I said (with excitement and in disbelief), “Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?” Paul Kantner came to my apartment, and I pulled out all my boxes so he could see what a big fan I was. We played “Ride the Tiger” and harmonized together. He said, “This is just a formality; you are in!”
Q: You have some singles out under your own name. Do you have a solo career, too?
CR: I still do mostly local gigs (in Chicago). When I was coming up in the ’90s, my local band was very popular. We played a ton of shows here. Actually, we made a living playing shows locally. My biggest fan base is here in Chicago, which is where I live. I play a couple shows a year solo or with my band, or both.
Q: How do you choose the songs that you play in the set? Do you have a favorite?
CR: I love all the songs so much. The hard thing is trying to fit all the songs into the sets. In an opening act, we have an hour or less, so we have to decide what to cut.
Q: Have you met Grace Slick?
CR: Yes. Grace Slick is the epitome of rock and roll. She’s been sober for 20 years. She’s in her house in Malibu (Calif.) painting. She is doing art in a different medium now. And she does still write. She wrote a song for our most recent album called “It’s About Time,” which is really awesome. We were watching the women’s marches in 2017, and she said, “Wow, this is just like the ’60s.” She was really inspired. I told her we were making a new record, and I told her she should write a song for the women’s movement. I didn’t think she would remember it, but later she sent me a bunch of lyrics. I grabbed my guitar and started singing, putting in her words and some of my own words, and took a riff that Jude, our guitar player, had been playing around with in sound check, and (I) married it all together. It was the first single on our record, so that is really cool and exciting.
Q: What is it like to follow in the footsteps of icons like Janis Joplin and Grace Slick?
CR: Joplin and Grace Slick were the queens. They smashed the ceiling. Before, (if you wanted to be a singer) you had to be like Peggy Lee, a pop singer, but with rock-and-roll it was a man’s game. Both women were very different, but both smashed the ceiling of what women could do. I never intended in my life to portray them or be in their shoes — I was always doing my own band and my own thing — but I just happened to have a strong, powerful voice. I would cover both Janis and Grace songs in my band. When the play about Janis came to town, they were looking for someone to sing Janis. They started looking in the theater, at all the actors from musical theater, and couldn’t find anyone, so they started looking around the rock scene. Everyone they asked said, “Get Cathy Richardson!” They called me, and I said that I don’t do that, that I don’t sound like Janis, that I don’t do theater. They wanted me all the more for that. I was like, “no,” but I came in and I just loved the costumes, so I went ahead, thinking they will see I am wrong for this (and) will just send me on my way. But they said, “Will you do this?” I said I would think about it, and then I realized I have to do it because you don’t regret the things you didn’t do — I gotta see where this takes me. And I am so glad I did it. Taking on the role of Janis Joplin in the play “Love Janis” led me to Jefferson Starship. It brought me to San Francisco, and it got me the job with Big Brother, and Jefferson Starship saw me and it got me that gig. At first, I was a hired gun, and now it’s my band. We are equal band members now. I am the de-facto leader. Grace put me in that position, after Paul (Kantner) died (in 2016). She said: “The band needs a leader. Who has the biggest balls? I think Cathy does.”
Q: What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
CR: Whatever ya got!
IF YOU GO …
Rock-and-roll artist Bret Michaels will be the headliner for Gibson Area Hospital & Health Services’ fourth annual Summer Bash at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, in downtown Gibson City. Michaels, whose career has spanned more than 30 years, has sold more than 100 million digital records and streams worldwide and is known for hits like “Every Rose Has Its Thorn, “Talk Dirty to Me,” “All I Ever Needed” and “Something to Believe In.” Opening for Michaels is the iconic 1970s rock band Jefferson Starship, with hits like “We Built This City” and “Nothing is Going to Stop Us Now.” General admission to the show is free. Party-pit tickets — for access to the section closest to the stage — are available for purchase at www.gahhssummerbash.com.