Joey Covington, the 67-year-old rock drummer best known as a member of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, has died in a car accident in California.
Covington was driving in Palm Springs on Tuesday when he lost control of his sedan and slammed into a retaining wall, according to NY Daily News. Reports from the local paper, The Desert Sun, say that Covington – who was driving solo – had not been wearing a seat belt at the time,and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Local police do not suspect he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but Keith McCormick, a friend of the drummer’s, tells local media that Covington’s wife believes a stroke or heart attack led to the fatal automobile accident.
The American drummer was self-taught from the age of 10, where he grew up in Pennsylvania, but moved to San Francisco to be a part of the burgeoning summer of love. He featured in the lineups of several early Bay Area groups, including Pacific Gas & Electric, best known for their 1970 hit ‘Are You Ready?’
Covington helped found Blues rock group Hot Tune in 1969, designed as a side-project to famous San Francisco band Jefferson Airplane, alongside bassist Jack Casady and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, during Airplane’s early beginnings.
Though none of the recordings he did with Hot Tuna were ever released, Covington eventually rejoined Casady and Kaukonen as an official member of Jefferson Airplane in 1970, replacing drummer Spencer Dryden, though he performed percussion and congas on the band’s breakthrough 1969 album Volunteers.
Covington went on to feature on two more studio albums, 1971’s Bark, where he wrote and sang the successful Jefferson Airplane hit ‘Pretty As You Feel’. His last album with the band was 1972’s Long John Silver before he departed to pursue a solo career, starting with his debut LP, Fat Fandango.
He sporadically rejoined his former bandmates in the updated prog lineup of Jefferson Starship for 1976 album Spitfire, where he co-wrote another hit single ‘With Your Love’.
Through the 1980s and 90s he toured with the San Francisco Allstars, a hometown band with a rotating lineup of veteran American musicians, and the drummer became well known among the Palm Springs area – playing free gigs whenever possible. His final performance was for a Marilyn Monroe tribute show on June 1st, 2013.
Jefferson Starship confirmed Covington’s death and paid tribute to their former bandmate with a post on their Facebook that simply read: “Rest In Peace, Joey.”
