Guitarist in
Jefferson Airplane and
Hot Tuna, whose name is pronounced "Yor-ma Cow-kuh-nen." Born in
1940 in
Washington, D.C., he learned to play
guitar when he was sixteen and made friends with two brothers, Chick and
Jack Casady; eventually Jorma and Jack formed a band together.
Jorma went off to college, first Antioch College and then the University of Santa Clara, to avoid the draft. There in 1962 he met Paul Kantner, with whom he would later play in the Jefferson Airplane. After a post-graduation visit to Europe, Jorma came back to California and in 1965 was persuaded to join the band Paul was forming; he was talented enough that when he said the original bassist and drummer weren't good enough, they were replaced (the bassist with Jorma's old friend Jack Casady).
The Airplane became very popular, but were already having musical differences before 1969 when Jorma and Jack formed the side project Hot Tuna. The bands co-existed until 1972 when Jorma (and Jack) left Jefferson Airplane and concentrated on Hot Tuna. Hot Tuna broke up in 1978 but reformed on a part-time basis in the 1980s.
Jorma has also made several solo albums and worked with other musicians on a couple of projects. He did participate in Jefferson Airplane's 1989 reunion album and tour but wasn't very satisfied with them. He's done a couple of instructional videotames and is now, with his wife, running the Fur Peace Ranch, a camp where people come to learn to play guitar from him and his friends.
Major sources: http://www.starship.pp.se/bio/jorma_kaukonen.html and http://www.acousticmusicresource.com/interviews/kaukonen.html