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Signe Toly Anderson (born 15 September 1941 in Seattle, Washington) is one of the founding members of Jefferson Airplane. She was raised in Portland, Oregon and was a locally known and well respected jazz and folk singer before joining the band after a trip to San Francisco. Soon after joining the Airplane, she married one of the Merry Pranksters, Jerry Anderson, a marriage that lasted from 1965 to 1974. She sang on the first Jefferson Airplane album Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, most notably on the song 'Chauffeur Blues'. Her departure in late 1966 following the birth of her first daughter brought The Great Society vocalist Grace Slick to the band. Signe distrusted the Airplane's original manager Matthew Katz and refused to sign a contract with him until he inserted a special escape clause freeing her from him if she left the band for any reason. Though the birth of her daughter was largely the cause of her departure there were other factors such as the hostility of other band members towards her husband Jerry (see the book 'Got A Revolution - The Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane'). After leaving the Airplane she returned to Oregon where she sang for nine years with a ten-piece band--Carl Smith and the Natural Gas Company. In 1997 she married local building contractor Michael Alois Ettlin and retired from singing. In the mid 1970s she recovered from cancer. In more recent years she made guest appearances with the KBC and Jefferson Starship (Next Generation) bands. In the mid 1990s she suffered further serious health problems. Whilst she recovered from these ailments her family faced serious financial problems from the costs involved.
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