JANIS JOPLIN

Janis Joplin is considered by many to be one of the greatest female rock artistsJanis Joplin of all time. She also did much to redefine the role of women in rock with her assertive, sexually forthright persona and coarse, electrifying on-stage presence.

She grew up in rural Texas; much of her subsequent personal difficulties and unhappiness has been attributed to her inability to fit in with the expectations of the conservative community. As a teenager, she was often belittled by high school classmates because of her looks, attitude, and weight gain. She became a loner and soon was labeled a rebel. Her interests included poetry and music, particularly jazz and blues, as she listened to black female blues singers.

After completing college and traveling to other parts of the south singing at small gigs, Janis finally moved to San Francisco, where she met up with a group called Big Brother and the Holding company and became their lead singer. The band combined blues and psychedelic music and they played loud and hard.

Janis and her band made their official debut at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. The group’s performance, specifically Janis’s, made her an instant success and she rose to stardom. After the break-up with the band, Janis started a solo career and released the album "I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again, Mama!", which earned gold-record status.

JanisJanis was a huge success now but when she made the trip back to Port Arthur it was not how she expected things to turn out. She returned to college and was soon exposed to the same kind of torments as in high school. She again turned to alcohol and drugs. For years, Joplin's life had been a roller coaster of drug addiction, alcoholism, and unstable personal relationships. On October 4, 1970, Janis was found dead in a motel in California from a heroin overdose. She was just 27 years old.

Before she died, Janis was recording an album called "Pearl". The album was released posthumously and became her biggest selling album and one of the best-selling albums of 1971, featuring hits: "Cry Baby", "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Mercedes Benz". "Me and Bobby McGee" became a posthumous number one single in 1971, and thus the song with which she is most frequently identified.

In 1995 Joplin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Listen to: Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGee

 


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