David Freiberg

David Freiberg was the most folk-rooted member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, in which he played bass and sang. Quicksilver was the scene of his most significant achievements on record, though he got more commercial success as a member of Jefferson Starship in the '70s. His most memorable songwriting credits were on the first Quicksilver album, on which he co-wrote "The Fool" and "Light Your Windows" with Gary Duncan.



Already in his late twenties by the time Quicksilver rose to prominence, Freiberg, like many '60s folk-rock-psychedelic musicians, began as a coffee house folk musician in the late '50s. He became half of a male-female folk duo, David & Michaela, and for a while shared a house in Venice, CA, with other future folk-rockers David Crosby and Paul Kantner. David & Michaela did make a demo at CBS's studio and Elektra producer Paul Rothchild proposed fitting them into a bigger folk group. But the onset of the Beatles spelled the end of David & Michaela, and incentive for Freiberg to switch to rock and electric instruments. A drug bust landed him in jail for very brief stretches around the time he, John Cippolina, Dino Valenti, and Jim Murray were thinking of forming a band. Dino Valenti soon got busted himself and served more serious jail time, but after Freiberg was free, the others, with Gary Duncan and Greg Elmore, formed Quicksilver Messenger Service.

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