FRANKENMUTH, Mich. (AP) 鈥� Gretna Van Fleet didn’t play music with Greta Van Fleet. But maybe she got the next best thing: The uses her name.
The 95-year-old Michigan woman died Monday at a senior living center in Frankenmuth, the same community where the band was formed in 2012 when Van Fleet was in her 80s.
鈥淚 think they checked out my background to make sure I wasn鈥檛 on the Ten Most Wanted list or something, and they went ahead with it,鈥� Van Fleet jokingly told MLive.com in 2019, ahead of the band’s appearance on 鈥淪aturday Night Live.鈥�
鈥淏ut later, when I met the boys, I said, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 OK.’ But, no, they did not approach me to begin with,” Van Fleet said.
Kyle Hauck, a drummer in the band’s early days, has told interviewers that a name was needed in time for a local performance. He said he heard his grandfather talk about helping a friend, Gretna Van Fleet. Something clicked. The band dropped the 鈥榥鈥� in Gretna and Greta Van Fleet was born.
The band won a Grammy in 2019 for best rock album, 鈥淔rom The Fires,鈥� and had other nominations that year. Greta Van Fleet’s 鈥淪tarcatcher鈥� was nominated for best album in 2024.
Gretna Van Fleet’s obituary describes her, too, as being 鈥渕usically talented,鈥� playing a variety of instruments including saxophone, violin, tuba and piano.
She said in the 2019 interview that her favorite song by the band was 鈥淔lower Power.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 a couple others that I like, but that鈥檚 not really my style,” Van Fleet said of the music. “It鈥檚 not my era that they鈥檙e making popular come back.鈥�
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