Spencer Charles Dryden was an American musician best known as the drummer for Jefferson Airplane and New Riders of the Purple Sage.
23 Facts About Spencer Dryden
2.
Spencer Dryden played with Dinosaurs, and the Ashes.
3.
Spencer Dryden was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a member of Jefferson Airplane.
4.
Spencer Charles Dryden was born in 1938 in New York City to Alice Chapple and George Dryden Wheeler Jr.
5.
Alice Chapple was a ballet dancer with Anna Pavlova's dance company, and a member of the Radio City Ballet Company; Wheeler Dryden was an English-born actor who became an American citizen.
6.
Spencer Dryden later worked as a director, and was a half-brother of Charlie Chaplin.
7.
When Spencer Dryden was growing up, he carefully concealed his relationship to his world-famous half-uncle, not wanting to be judged on his name.
8.
Since Spencer Dryden didn't have a drum set, Miller fashioned an instrument by thumb-tacking an old inner tube over a wooden barrel with no ends.
9.
Spencer Dryden was playing Baby Dodds' solos to perfection, even the difficult nerve sticks.
10.
Spencer Dryden's father was a jazz fan, and took him to Los Angeles jazz clubs during the 1950s.
11.
Spencer Dryden's father died in 1957, when Dryden was 19 years old.
12.
In mid-1966 Spencer Dryden was recruited to replace Skip Spence as the drummer in Jefferson Airplane, a leading San Francisco psychedelic band.
13.
Spencer Dryden seemed to have some sense of foreboding about the concert, as he initially did not want to play there, saying the "vibes" were wrong.
14.
Spencer Dryden left the music business for a short period, but returned to drumming as a member of the New Riders of the Purple Sage.
15.
Spencer Dryden performed and recorded with them from late 1970 until 1977, at which point he became the manager of the band.
16.
In 1996, Spencer Dryden was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the rest of Jefferson Airplane.
17.
Spencer Dryden played with the band in a special event for the first time since 1970.
18.
In 2003 Spencer Dryden joined the group onstage for the last time, in the Jefferson Starship Galactic Reunion.
19.
Spencer Dryden lived in relative obscurity, reportedly in a small house on rented property with a few acres in Penngrove, California.
20.
Spencer Dryden lost his home due to a fire in 2003.
21.
Spencer Dryden died from metastasized colon cancer on January 11,2005.
22.
Spencer Dryden died on December 25,2005, at the age of 94.
23.
At the news of his death, Grace Slick and other band members wrote tributes to Spencer Dryden that appeared on the group's website.