Janis Lyn Joplin was born on January 19, 1943 at St. Mary’s Hospital, in the oil refinery town of Port Arthur, Texas. She was the eldest child of a working class family. As a child, Janis was often engrossed and devoted to art, poetry, and music, as she was considered to be quite eccentric to those around her. Influenced by the sound of blues legends like Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter and Bessie Smith, the 18-year-old Joplin started singing in the local country and western clubs of Austin and Houston(Purple Onion Club), with an Austin-based act called the "Waller Creek Boys"(featuring Powell St. John, of Mother Earth).Janis briefly attended Lamar State College of Technology and the University of Texas at Austin, only to find that academics were her forte’. So she hitchhiked to California in 1963, where she witnessed the birth of the 1960’s hippie movement. Janis found her place amongst the counter-culture, and performed the blues in the local clubs and coffeehouses(North Beach Coffee Gallery) of San Francisco and Venice Beach.
After two years of performing, she moved back to Port Arthur where she attempted to adapt and lead a normal small-town existence. She realized that her efforts where futile, so she returned back to San Francisco within a year. Under the recommendation of her friend and promoter Chet Holmes, she joined an existing hard-rock band called, “Big Brother and the Holding Company”. Joplin served as the lead vocalist, achieving a fierce blues sound that was unprecedented by white female artists of her time.
At the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival in California, Joplin gave a mesmerizing performance with her rendition of the blues classic “Ball and Chain”(originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton). On the strength of her Monterey performance, Joplin and her band were offered a recording contract with the Independent label Mainstream. In 1968, they released their debut album, “BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY”.
With the help of Albert Grossman (Bob Dylan’s manager), Big Brother signed a recording contract with Columbia Records. In 1968 they released “CHEAP THRILLS”, which featured live versions of “Piece of My Heart”, “Ball and Chain”, and “Turtle Blues” marking their first collaboration with Columbia Records. The album secured the top spot on the Billboard charts for eight consecutive weeks. Within a month it went gold and sold over 1 million copies. In the fall of 1968, Joplin left the group in order to pursue a solo career. On August of 1969, she gave another remarkable performance to an awestruck crowd at the landmark Woodstock Festival in Bethel, New York.
Janis eventually formed two backup groups called “The Kozmic Blues Band" and the "Full Tilt Boogie Band”. The "Kozmic Blues Band featured former Electric Flag members(Mike Bloomfield, Harvey Brooks and Nick Gravenites);accompanied by former Big Brother member(Sam Andrew on Guitar and Vocals), Terry Clements(Saxphone), Marcus Doubleday(Trumpet), Bill King (Organ), Brad Campbell(Bass), and Roy Markowitz(Drums). The “Full Tilt Boogie Band” featured band members;(Brad Campbell and latecomer John Till(Guitar), Richard Bell(Piano), Ken Pearson(Organ) and Clark Pierson(Drums). In 1969, with the Kozmic Blues Band, Joplin recorded her final completed album; “I’VE GOT DEM OL’ KOZMIC BLUES AGAIN MAMA!” which yielded the hit song “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder). In July of 1970 they toured Canada, with the "Grateful Dead” before completion of their album."
On October 4, 1970, the 27-year-old singer was found dead at the Landmark Motor Hotel in Hollywood, California. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered off the coast of California.
At the time of her death, Joplin was recording an album, with the “Full Tilt Boogie Band”, entitled “PEARL”. Released posthumously in 1971, “Pearl” contained the hear-wrenching “Cry Baby”, “Mercedes Benz”, and Joplin’s version of Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee”, which marked her first No.1 single on the pop charts.
“Ellen Wills” a music journalist once stated, “that Joplin belonged to that select group of pop figures who mattered as much for themselves as for their music. Among American rock performers, she was second only to Bob Dylan in importance as a creator-recorder-embodiment of her generation’s mythology.”
Joplin was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. She is considered by many to be the most original and greatest white female blues artist of all time.
