Frankenmuth, Michigan– Gretna Van Fleet never played music with Greta Van Fleet. But you probably got the next best thing: Grammy Award-winning rock band She uses her name.
A 95-year-old Michigan woman died Monday at a senior living center in Frankenmuth, According to her obituary. The same community where the band formed in 2012 when Van Fleet was in her 80s.
“I think they checked my background to make sure I wasn’t on the 10 Most Wanted list or something, and they went ahead with it,” Van Fleet joked to MLive.com in 2019, before the band appeared on “Saturday Night Live.”
But later, when I met the boys, I said: It’s okay. “But no, they didn’t approach me at first,” VanVleet said.
Kyle Hawk, a drummer in the band’s early days, told interviewers that the name was in demand in time for a local performance. He said he heard his grandfather talking about helping his friend Gretna Van Fleet. Something clicked. The band dropped the ‘n’ in Gretna and Greta Van Fleet was born.
The band won a Grammy Award in 2019 for Best Rock Album for From The Fires, and received other nominations that year. “Starcatcher” by Greta Van Fleet is nominated for Best Album of 2024.
Gretna Van Fleet’s obituary also describes her as “musically gifted,” playing a variety of instruments including saxophone, violin, tuba, and piano.
She said in a 2019 interview that her favorite song by the band is “Flower Power.”
“There’s a couple others that I like, but that’s not really my style,” Van Fleet said of the music. “It’s not my era when they’re popular.”