Randy Craig Wolfe (February 20, 1951 – January 2, 1997), known as Randy California, was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the original members of the rock group Spirit, formed in 1967. California was born as Randy Craig Wolfe into a musical Jewish family in Los Angeles and spent his early years studying varied styles at the family's Los Angeles folk club, the Ash Grove, which was founded by his uncle, Ed Pearl. He was 15 years old when his mother Bernice Pearl and his ne ...