The Story Behind Starship’s Final Hit with Grace Slick “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”

A year before Grace Slick parted ways with Starship in 1988, the band released their third No. 1 hit “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” Coming from Jefferson Airplane with hits “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit” in the 1960s, then transitioning into Jefferson Starship by the’ 70s and finally Starship in the 1980s, the band had their third hit within two years as their new iteration.

The Diane Warren and Albert Hammond penned “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” also appeared in the 1987 romantic comedy film Mannequin, starring Andrew McCarthy and Kim Cattrall, and picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.

The song followed Starhip’s 1985 No. 1s “We Built This City” and “Sara,” and was featured on the last album Slick would record with the band No Protection. The song also marked the first No. 1 for Warren, who had already written hits for DeBarge (“Rhythm of the Night”) and Laura Branigan (“Solitaire”).

The Meaning

The song was first inspired by Hammond’s real-life love life. Commissioned along with Diane Warren to write a song for the film Mannequin, Hammond was inspired by his new relationship, following a divorce, and started writing “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us” as a wedding song for his new bride.

Sung as a duet by Slick and Jefferson Starship bandmate Mickey Thomas, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” was a pure anadultered anthem of love.

Lookin’ in your eyes
I see a paradise
This world that I’ve found is too good to be true
Standin’ here beside you
Want so much to give you
This love in my heart that I’m feeling for you

Let ’em say we’re crazy
I don’t care about that
Put your hand in my hand
Baby, don’t ever look back
Let the world around us
Just fall apart
Baby, we can make it
If we’re heart-to-heart

And we can build this dream together
Standing strong forever
Nothing’s gonna stop us now
And if this world runs out of lovers

The song went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and in several other countries and became the Starship’s best-selling single. Slick, who was 47 at the time, also became the oldest woman to earn a No. 1 single in the U.S.

The End of Starship

Though Starship was at the height of their career in the ’80s after “Nothing’s Gonne Stop Us Now,” Slick, who was at least a decade older than her bandmates, parted ways with them.

Slick also admitted that she never liked “Nothing’s Gonne Stop Us Now,” because she didn’t believe its lyrics. “I don’t like to sing songs where I don’t believe the lyrics,” said Slick. “Diane Warren is an amazing pop songwriter, and she, I’m assuming, believes in that state where you’re in love, you get kind of crazy. But I’m older now. I am damn near 50, and I’m singing, ‘Nothing’s gonna stop us now.’”

Slick added, “I know goddamn well how fast a relationship can come apart. So I’m getting up onstage and I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, right.’ It’s distracting and disconcerting to me.”

Chick-fil-A

In 2017, “Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now” resurfaced in a Chick-fil-A ad that ran during the Grammy Awards. Slick allowed the song to be used, then donated the profits to Lambda Legal, which supports the LBGTQ community, in response to the Chick-fil-A CEO’s anti-LBGTQ comments.

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images