(Joey Covington at his final performance on June 1, 2013- Photo credit: Dean M. Gray/DesertVortex/Flickr)
JUNE 6, 2013 – Sad news in the realm of '60s music, Joey Covington who played drums for one of the 1960s biggest groups, Jefferson Airplane, died in a car crash. His common law wife, thinks that a stroke or other health problem might have been a factor. He apparently drove off the road and hit a cement wall. He wasn't wearing his seat belt. A man at the scene tried to resuscitate, but was unsuccessful. Joey was 67.
Joey was born in 1945 in Pennsylvania and taught himself to play the drums. He started recording music in Johnstown, PA when he was only sixteen. His first group was the Fenways, jammed a while with Jimmy Greenspoon in LA (who later went on to fame with Three Dog Night) and also played with Papa John Creach.
In 1969 he formed the group Hot Tuna with Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen, and also joined Jefferson Airplane; either double-drumming with Spencer Dryden, or sometimes replacing him entirely. He broke his leg and was not able to play drums for their Woodstock show. In the 1970s he went solo, then in the 1980s and 1990s he was part of the group San Francisco Allstars. He was popular in the Palm Springs area, and even played free gigs, and talking to the fans after the show. Read more on Today.com here, and a report with pictures from the local CBS affiliate here.
