Jefferson Starship singer Cathy Richardson has an affinity for Arizona.
Richardson spent time in Phoenix and Tucson performing the lead role in “Love, Janis.”
“I love it,” she said about the state. “I love the desert. It’s so beautiful. I have a lot of friends there. I always have a good time.”
She will return to the Tucson area to perform with Jefferson Starship at Desert Diamond Casino in Sahuarita on Friday, July 26. When fans attend the show, they will see tinges of Joplin in Richardson’s performance.
“Getting inside of Janis was one of the best things for me as a singer,” she said. “I didn’t realize how great she was until I started to do it. It was an incredible opportunity. The crazy thing is David Freiberg, who’s our original member, is the person who discovered Janis. He was in Texas and saw her sing.
“He told her to move out to San Francisco to become part of the rock scene that was happening. She hitchhiked and went to David’s house and crashed. That’s a little piece of history that influenced me and made what I do possible.”
Like Joplin, Richardson fronted rock bands that played originals. She said, “I wanted to be an artist.” When “Love, Janis” came around, her first thought was, “I don’t sound like Janis Joplin.” The producers of the play were not worried.
“‘You don’t have to sound like her,’” Richardson recalled what the producers said. “‘We don’t want you to imitate her. We think that’s cheesy. We just want a singer who can sink their teeth into the material.’ I took the job. It’s been incredibly life-changing.”
Richardson was living in San Francisco when she performed in “Love, Janis” in Arizona. Later that summer, fronting Joplin’s band Big Brother and the Holding Company, the act played a gig with Jefferson Starship as the headliner.
“There were all of these little steps that put me in the right place at the right time. They were watching me sing every night. The singer no longer wanted to be in Jefferson Starship, so they asked me. It’s amazing when I think about it.”
At the Desert Diamond Casino, Jefferson Starship fans can expect to hear new material and a robust selection of hits. On the set list may be “It’s About Time” a song from its 2020 EP “Mother of the Sun.” “It’s About Time” was co-written with former lead singer Grace Slick at her home in 2017.
“We’re going to do what we always do,” she said. “We’ll play all the hits, all the songs people want to hear. We cover material from Jefferson Starship, Jefferson Airplane and Starship — ‘White Rabbit,’ ‘Somebody to Love,’ ‘Volunteers,’ etc. We just have a great time. We all love each other. We love the music. It’s just always good to get together play.”
Richardson said she and Jefferson Starship are passionate about the music, as it was one of her favorite bands growing up.
“I have a real passion and respect for the music,” Richardson said. “Hopefully I have the powerful vocals in the vein of Mickey Thomas and Grace Slick. I bring a lot of humor. I like to joke that I do about 5 minutes of standup in the middle of our shows. I love making people laugh. Everyone in the band is quite funny.”
In October, Jefferson Starship will tour Europe with Deep Purple. Richardson is looking forward to that, too.
“It’s my bucket list,” she said. “One of my heroes growing up was (the singer) Ian Gillian. My parent had a soundtrack of the London cast Iof “Jesus Christ Superstar.”) He was Jesus. I tell him he was my Jesus growing up.”
The Marshall Tucker Band and Jefferson Starship
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, July 26
WHERE: Desert Diamond Sahuarita’s Diamond Center, 1100 W. Pima Mine Road, Sahuarita
COST: Ticket start at $55
INFO: ddcaz.com
