Former Jefferson Airplane drummer Joey Covington has died at the age of 67 after crashing his car in Palm Springs, California on Tuesday afternoon (June 4).
Police later confirmed that Covington wasn’t wearing a seatbelt when he slammed his car into a wall near a curve in the road. He was the only passenger in the vehicle, a local CBS news station reports, and following attempts to revive him, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Covington played with Jefferson Airplane spin-off band Hot Tuna from 1969 to 1970 and later replaced sticksman Spencer Dryden in the Jefferson Airplane line-up. He served as the band’s full-time drummer from 1970 to 1972 and played on their ‘Volunteers’, ‘Bark’ and ‘Long John Silver’ albums.
Later, Covington co-wrote Jefferson Starship‘s 1976 single ‘With Your Love’, which peaked at Number 12 on the US singles chart. He played with popular local touring band San Francisco AllStars from 1978 to 1986.
In more recent years, Covington gigged regularly in the Palm Springs area and his last live performance came at a Marilyn Monroe tribute event three days before his death.