The founding member of Jefferson Airplane/Starship is having a birthday today. Former lead singer Marty Balin is 70. Martyn Balin (he later dropped the ‘n’ from his name) was a young adult in San Francisco in 1965 when he met Paul Kantner (co Jefferson Airplane member) at a nightclub in the city. From 1965-1971, Marty was one of the lead singers of the group, sharing those duties with Grace Slick. Marty left Jefferson Airplane in 1971, but returned in 1975 for their run as Jefferson Starship. A few of their big hits in the seventies feature his vocal talents. “Miracles”, “With Your Love”, “Count On Me”, and “Runaway” were all top 15 hits for Jefferson Starship featuring Marty Balin on lead vocals. Check out this cool “sit-in” acoustic version of 1978′s “Count On Me”, with an introduction by Suzanne Somers, in this video featured on 8-Track Flash-Back in the nineties.