Sometimes sublime and tender, sometimes raving and frightening, Janis Joplin's vocals had a raw energy unmatched by any white blues singer of her time. And Joplin lived as wildly as she sang. Although she was born into a comfortable, middle-class family...
[more]Sometimes sublime and tender, sometimes raving and frightening, Janis Joplin's vocals had a raw energy unmatched by any white blues singer of her time. And Joplin lived as wildly as she sang. Although she was born into a comfortable, middle-class family in Port Arthur, Texas, she always seemed to be searching, trying to fill the emptiness in her life with sex or drugs. Even after she became famous, she was still plagued by loneliness, saying, "Onstage, I make love to 25,000 people -- then I go home alone."
Joplin ran away from home at age 17; six years later, she was a college dropout several times over, eking out a living singing in Houston and Austin clubs. Her big break came when San Francisco impresario (and fellow Texan) Chet Helms saw her singing with the local Waller Creek Boys. Although the group's performance was hardly notable, Helms saw potential in Joplin and brought her to California, where she joined the group Big Brother and the Holding Company -- and acquired a serious drug habit. The boys of Big Brother were better known for their partying than their playing, but Joplin's passionate screams and howls transformed their ragged blues into a primitive and awesome sound.
A show-stopping performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and a hit album, "Cheap Thrills" (1968) -- featuring "Summertime," "Ball And Chain," and the desperate "Piece Of My Heart" -- made Big Brother famous. But success also tore the band apart. Joplin went on to form the less-successful Kozmic Blues Band and Full Tilt Boogie Band as her drug use spiraled out of control. On October 4, 1970, at the age of 27, she was found dead in her room at Hollywood's Landmark Hotel, fresh needle marks in her arm. Her posthumous album "Pearl," released in 1971, showcased Joplin's truncated talent with direct, uncluttered arrangements that allowed her power and range to shine through. Ironically -- or presciently -- Joplin had recently bought a headstone for the grave of blues singer Bessie Smith, another musical martyr.
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