Jefferson Starship’s David Freiberg, 83: I’m not stopping. I’m not dead yet!’

Retire to what is the answer David Frieberg will utter if you ask him when he’ll quit playing with Jefferson Starship. The vocalist-guitarist is still rocking at 83 and refuses to slow down.

“Why should I retire?” Freiberg said while calling from San Francisco on a conference call with Jefferson Starship vocalist Cathy Richardson. “Retire from what? Having a great time? I’m not stopping. I’m not dead yet!”

Freiberg, the lone original member of Jefferson Starship and also an alumnus of the prior band, Jefferson Airplane, is spry and energetic. “Performing gives me life, it doesn’t take it away,” Freiberg said. “I love it.”

“Jane,” one of the band’s biggest hits, was written by Freiberg. “The person who inspired the song was not named Jane,” Frieberg said. “I was protecting her identity. I ostensibly wrote the song for (vocalist) Marty (Balin), but he left the band (in 1978), and so it went to (former Jefferson Starship vocalist) Mickey (Thomas).”

“Jane” peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard pop charts in 1979, and it had an impact on the band’s future vocalist.

“The first Jefferson Starship song I ever heard was ‘Jane,’ ” Richardson said. “I absolutely loved ‘Jane.’ After I heard ‘Jane,’ I fell in love with Jefferson Starship, and they’ve always been one of my favorite bands. I remember seeing them in 1983. How crazy is that?”

Well, nearly 40 years later, Richardson is fronting Jefferson Starship, which will perform Thursday at Coeur d’Alene Casino in Worley.

“It’s beyond surreal,” Richardson said. “Jefferson Starship has always been one of my favorite bands. I never thought I would ever be in the band. It was always enough to just be a fan since they have so many great songs, so many hits.”

Regarding the latter, it’s surprising how many Jefferson Starship tunes have reached the charts. Aside from the fiery “Jane,” there are the two chart-topping singles, the infectious “We Built This City” and the well-constructed “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” the ballad “Miracles,” the straight-ahead rocker “Find Your Way Back,” and the atmospheric “No Way Out” are just some of the band’s Top 40 hits.

“People might forget how many great songs come from Jefferson Airplane,” Richardson said. “And we’re still creating new music.”

“Mother of the Sun,” the band’s first album in a dozen years, dropped in 2020. “It’s About Time” was written by Richardson, guitarist Jude Gold and former vocalist Grace Slick.

“It was so cool to write a song with Grace,” Richardson said. “She’s a rock icon who was Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship.”

Slick, who retired from music in 1990, has given the current lineup of Jefferson Starship, which also includes drummer Danny Baldwin and keyboardist-bassist Chris Smith, her blessing.

“That means everything to us,” Richardson said. “She wants to keep the music of Jefferson Starship alive.”

And Freiberg stresses that the band’s music literally keeps him going. “Being in this band is a great reason to get up every day,” Freiberg said. “I don’t understand people who just sit around once they reach a certain age. I love what I do, and there’s not one reason for me or us to stop doing what we’re doing.

“We’re still discovering new things and playing new places, like Idaho. Jefferson Airplane has been around a long time. We’ve played Spokane, but never Idaho.”