Biography of janis joplin
Remembering Janis Joplin’s Life and Musical Legacy on her 80th Birthday
Janis Joplin’s birthday is January 19, and this year would’ve marked her 80 birthday, so what better time to celebrate her life and career? Her mesmerizing stage presence and instantly recognizable mezzo-soprano voice make Janis one of the greatest vocalists of all time. Tragically, the legendary singer’s career was cut short when she passed away in 1970 at the age of 27, but 53 years later, her legacy lives on.
So, jump in the “Mercedes Benz” and try not to “Cry Baby” as we look back at Janis’ rise to fame and celebrate the “Summertime” of her life. If you feel the need for even more Janis Joplin in your life, then tune in to Classic Vinyl (Ch. 26) to hear her music, as well as other classic-rock stars from the ’60s and ’70s, throughout the week.
Early Songs
Born in Port Arthur, TX, Janis began singing blues and folk music during high school, influenced by Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Lead Belly. In 1963, she moved to San Francisco, CA, where she recorded several blues standards alongside future Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. Janis eventually returned to Port Arthur and recorded several acoustic tracks, including “Turtle Blues” and an alternate version of “Cod’ine” by Buffy Sainte-Marie. The former later appeared on Cheap Thrills, however, “Cod’ine” wasn’t released until 1995 on the posthumous album This is Janis Joplin 1965.
Big Brother and the Holding Company
In 1966, Janis’ bluesy vocal style brought her to the attention of the psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company. Together, they released their eponymous debut album the following year and brought the singer to the attention of many. The album was a minor hit, with “Down On Me” — a rearrangement of a traditional freedom song — proving the most successful single. The song barely missed out on the Top 40, but it encapsulates the sound many cam
Janis Joplin
(1943-1970)
Who Was Janis Joplin?
Janis Joplin developed a love of music at an early age, but her career didn't take off until she joined the band Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1966. Their 1968 album, Cheap Thrills, was a huge hit. However, friction between Joplin and the band prompted her to part ways with Big Brother soon after. Known for her powerful, blues-inspired vocals, Joplin released her first solo effort, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!, in 1969. The album received mixed reviews, but her second project, Pearl (1971), released after Joplin's death, was a huge success. The singer died of an accidental overdose on October 4, 1970, at age 27.
Early Life
Joplin was born on January 19, 1943, in Port Arthur, Texas. Breaking new ground for women in rock music, Joplin rose to fame in the late 1960s and became known for her powerful, blues-inspired vocals. She grew up in a small Texas town known for its connections to the oil industry with a skyline dotted with oil tanks and refineries. For years, Joplin struggled to escape from this confining community, and spent even longer to trying to overcome her memories of her difficult years there.
Developing a love for music at an early age, Joplin sang in her church choir as a child and showed some promise as a performer. She was an only child until the age of six, when her sister, Laura, was born. Four years later, her brother, Michael, arrived. Joplin was a good student and fairly popular until around the age of 14 when some side effects of puberty started to kick in. She got acne and gained some weight.
At Thomas Jefferson High School, Joplin began to rebel. She eschewed the popular girls' fashions of the late 1950s, often choosing to wear men's shirts and tights, or short skirts. Joplin, who liked to stand out from the crowd, became the target of some teasing as well as a popular subject in the school's rumor mill. She was called a "pig" by some, while others s This blazingly intimate biography of Janis Joplin illuminates the Queen of Rock & Roll as a true rule-breaking musical trailblazer and complicated, uncompromising artistic revolutionary. Janis Joplin’s first transgressive act was to be a white girl who embraced the power of the blues, music one could only find on obscure records and in roadhouses along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. But even before that, she stood out in her conservative oil town. She was a tomboy who was intellectually curious and artistic. By the time she reached high school, she had drawn the scorn of her peers for her embrace of the Beat poets and her racially progressive views. Her parents doted on her in many ways but were ultimately put off by her repeated acts of defiance. Janis Joplin has passed into legend as a brash, impassioned artist doomed by the pain that produced one of the most extraordinary voices in rock history. But in these pages, Holly George-Warren provides a revelatory and deeply satisfying portrait of a woman who wasn’t all about suffering. Janis was a perfectionist: a passionate, erudite musician who was born with talent but also worked exceptionally hard to develop it. She was a woman who pushed the boundaries of sexuality – and bisexuality – in a time when any deviation from the 1960’s vision of homogenous, heterosexual America was considered socially taboo. She was a sensitive soul who wanted to marry and settle down—but couldn’t or wouldn’t. She was a Texan who yearned to flee Texas but could never quite get away—even after becoming a countercultural icon in San Francisco. Written by Holly George-Warren, one of the most highly regarded chroniclers of American music history, and based on unprecedented access to Janis Joplin’s family, friends, band mates, archives, and long-lost intervi That voice – high, husky, earthy, explosive – remains among the most distinctive and galvanizing in pop history. But Janis Joplin didn’t merely possess a great instrument; she threw herself into every syllable, testifying from the very core of her being. She claimed the blues, soul, gospel, country and rock with unquestionable authority and verve, fearlessly inhabiting psychedelic guitar jams, back-porch roots and everything in between. Her volcanic performances left audiences stunned and speechless, while her sexual magnetism, world-wise demeanor and flamboyant style shattered every stereotype about female artists – and essentially invented the “rock mama” paradigm. Born in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1943, Joplin fell under the sway of Leadbelly, Bessie Smith and Big Mama Thornton in her teens, and the authenticity of these voices strongly influenced her decision to become a singer. A self-described “misfit” in high school, she suffered virtual ostracism, but dabbled in folk music with her friends and painted. She briefly attended college in Beaumont and Austin but was more drawn to blues legends and beat poetry than her studies; soon she dropped out and, in 1963, headed for San Francisco, eventually finding herself in the notoriously drug-fueled Haight Ashbury neighborhood. She met up with guitarist Jorma Kaukonen (later of the legendary San Francisco rock outfit Jefferson Airplane) and the pair recorded a suite of songs with his wife, Margareta, providing the beat on her typewriter. These tracks – including blues standards like “Trouble in Mind” and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” – would later surface as the infamous “Typewriter Tapes” bootleg. She returned to Texas to escape the excesses of the Haight, enrolling as a sociology student at Lamar University, adopting a beehive hairdo and living a generally “straight” life despite occasional forays to perform in Austin. But California drew her back into its glittering embrace in 1966, when she jo