His father, Alexander Lett "Jock" Spence (1914–1965),[4] was a machinist, a salesman, and played Route 66 as a solo singer-songwriter and piano player.

He was also a decorated Canadian World War II bomber pilot, having been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

[4] In the late 1950s, the family relocated from Windsor to San Jose, California, when Spence's father found work in the aircraft industry.

[6] Spence was a guitarist in the band The Other Side before Marty Balin recruited him to be the drummer for Jefferson Airplane (apparently because he looked the part).

"[8] Spence drummed on their debut, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, which was recorded before Grace Slick joined the group.

[9] He briefly considered joining Buffalo Springfield as a drummer before returning to the guitar to co-found Moby Grape.

During the recording session of Moby Grape's second album, Wow in 1968, Spence attempted to break down a bandmate's hotel room door with a fire axe while under the influence of LSD.

Next time we saw him, he had cut off his beard, and was wearing a black leather jacket, with his chest hanging out, with some chains and just sweating like a son of a gun.

[note 1] They said at the reception area that this crazy guy had held an axe to the doorman's head.Bandmate Peter Lewis, describes Don Stevenson as also being the target of Spence and what happened to him afterwards:[11] We had to do [the album] in New York because the producer [David Rubinson] wanted to be with his family.

They'd played a Fillmore East gig without me, and Skippy took off with some black witch afterward who fed him full of acid.

They just take you out of the game.In June 1968 Spence was admitted to Bellevue Hospital in New York; during his six-month stay he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

"[16] Mental illness, drug addiction, and alcoholism thus prevented Spence from sustaining a career in the music industry.

[19][20] Spence's final performance with Moby Grape occurred on August 9, 1996, at Palookaville in Santa Cruz.

[2] Spence wrote "Omaha" for Moby Grape's first album which Rolling Stone listed in 2008 as one of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time.

The concert featured Spence's son Omar, who has sung with various configurations of Moby Grape in recent years.

Omar Spence, singing his father's songs, was backed by the Santa Cruz White Album Ensemble, with Dale Ockerman and Tiran Porter, both formerly of the Doobie Brothers, and both of whom have played with various members of Moby Grape in several bands over the past three decades.

[30] William Gibson paid tribute to Spence in his collection of essays, Distrust That Particular Flavor, in which he marvelled at his tailor-adjusted jeans.