On January 2, 1997, guitarist Randolph Wolfe, known around the world as Randy California, died trying to save his drowning son Quinn from the floods off Molokaʻi – a small volcanic island in Hawaii that is often called the “Forgotten Island” because of its sparse population .
The rescue was successful, the 12-year-old was pushed into safe waters by his father, but California was swept to his death by the current. The musician’s body was never found. Tragic irony: On “Future Games”, an album by his band Spirit, he sang about the “Hawaiian Times”.
Randy California was always an eccentric figure, but as a teenager he was recruited by his stepfather Ed “Mr. Skin” eclipsed Cassidy, who had already played with Thelonious Monk. At the latest with the renaming to Spirit, the band married jazz and rock in an inimitable way from 1968.
California was their singing leader, wrote most of the songs. Spirit also had a hit in 1969 with “I Got a Line on You”.
That year the group also toured with Led Zeppelin. Rober Plant and Co. even included the Spirit title “Fresh Garbage” in their program.
The band’s unity quickly faded, however, when California complained that “Stairway To Heaven” had similarities to 1968’s spirit track “Taurus.” It was not until 2016 that a jury in the USA found that the allegation of plagiarism was unlawful.
The highlight of Spirit’s band history is probably the LP “The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus” from 1970.
All of this was not necessarily commercial, which is why their record company refused in the 70s to release the album “Potatoland”, which later became famous. Again and again there were dissolutions and reunions, although California was never as good as it was in the early days with Spirit, but from 1972 he tried his hand at a refreshing solo work (“Kaptain Kopter and the Fabulous Twirly Birds”), which undoubtedly showed his talent on the guitar confirmed.
Incidentally, California took his fire and his stage name from Jimi Hendrix, for whom he had played for a few weeks in 1966 when he was just 15 in his band Jimmy James & The Blue Flames.