Formation There is some confusion as to the real origins of the group. According to
John Cipollina: The next day, Valenti was arrested for possession of
marijuana and spent the better part of the next two years in jail. However, Gary Duncan has stated: Whether or not Quicksilver Messenger Service was what Valenti had in mind, it appears from Duncan's recollections that he had at least talked with Cipollina about forming a band; Cipollina remembered that:
David Freiberg, a folk-guitarist friend of Valenti, was recruited to the group. He had previously been in a band with
Paul Kantner and
David Crosby but like Cipollina he had been arrested and briefly jailed for marijuana possession and had just been released. "We were to take care of this guy Freiberg", Cipollina recalled, and though they had never met before, Freiberg was integrated into the group. The band also added
Skip Spence on guitar and began to rehearse at
Marty Balin's club,
the Matrix. Balin, in search of a drummer for the band he was organizing (which became Jefferson Airplane), convinced Spence to switch instruments and groups. To make up for poaching Spence, Balin suggested that they contact drummer Greg Elmore and guitarist–singer Gary Duncan, who had played together in a group called
The Brogues. This new version of the group played its first concert performance in December 1965, playing for the Christmas party of
the Committee (improv group). Drummer
Greg Elmore and guitarist
Jim Murray were added to fill out the original band. It was a band without a name, Cipollina recalled:
Management The group's early management was by
Ambrose Hollingworth, who became a paraplegic as a result of an automobile crash near
Muir Beach, California in 1966. Hollingworth's stewardship, which also included the all-female
Ace of Cups, transferred to
Ron Polte. Polte was known for going to great lengths to accommodate the needs of his musicians. When perennial studio musician
Nicky Hopkins joined the band in 1969, it was the first and only band that officially included him in its performing and recording revenues. Hollingsworth died in 1996, and Polte in 2016. Capitol was the only company that had missed out on signing a San Francisco "hippie" band during the first flurry of record company interest and, consequently, Quicksilver Messenger Service was able to negotiate a better deal than many of their peers. At the same time, Capitol signed the
Steve Miller Band, with whom Quicksilver Messenger Service had appeared on the movie and soundtrack album
Revolution, together with the group
Mother Earth. Quicksilver Messenger Service released their self-titled debut album in 1968. It was followed by
Happy Trails, released in early 1969 and largely recorded live at the
Fillmore East and the
Fillmore West. Like most live albums of the time,
Happy Trails made extensive use of studio overdubs, and the last two songs were recorded entirely in the studio, but it has nonetheless been called the most accurate reproduction of the band's acclaimed live performances.
Happy Trails was awarded a gold album in the United States. These albums, which have been hailed as "...two of the best examples of the San Francisco sound at its purest," Archetypal Quicksilver Messenger Service songs include the elongated rendition of
Bo Diddley's "
Who Do You Love?" on
Happy Trails. Duncan left the group not long after the recording of
Happy Trails; according to David Freiberg, this was largely because of his escalating problems with
opiates and
amphetamines. Naftalin departed the band in 1972 and was replaced by Chuck Steaks. Harold Aceves, formerly a roadie for the band, also joined the band at the same time as a second drummer. Ryan was fired in 1972 after missing a flight; he was replaced by Roger Stanton. Stanton had played with Aceves in a popular
Phoenix, Arizona band Poland. Stanton remained with the band until 1974 when he was replaced by Bob Flurie, who was a well-known East Coast virtuoso guitar player. This Quicksilver lineup disbanded in 1975. Aceves, Stanton, and Flurie later backed former Country Joe and the Fish guitarist
Barry Melton. In 1975, Elmore, Duncan, Valenti, Freiberg and Cipollina recorded a reunion album,
Solid Silver, on Capitol Records. The album also included contributions from a variety of Bay Area musicians, including former keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, session vocalist
Kathi McDonald and
Jefferson Starship multi-instrumentalist
Pete Sears. Freiberg had initially replaced
Marty Balin in Jefferson Airplane following his release from prison in 1972 and remained with the group as they evolved into the mammothly successful Jefferson Starship. Released in November 1975,
Solid Silver fared better from a commercial and critical standpoint than the preceding two albums but only managed to peak at No. 89. While Freiberg elected not to rejoin the live group as a result of his Jefferson Starship commitments, Cipollina, keyboardist Michael Lewis and bassist Skip Olsen toured with the returning trio for a handful of concerts in 1975, culminating in an appearance at San Francisco's
Winterland Ballroom on December 28. Shortly thereafter, Cipollina departed once again and the remaining quintet continued to tour clubs intermittently until finally dissolving in 1979. ==Remnants and reunions==