Background

Janis Lyn Joplin was born in Port Arthur, Texas, on January 19, 1943, to Dorothy Bonita East (1913–1998), a registrar at a business college, and her husband, Seth Ward Joplin (1910–1987), an engineer at Texaco. She had two younger siblings, Michael and Laura. 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.

Education

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 said that she was sexually promiscuous.

Joplin eventually developed a group of guy friends who shared her interest in music and the Beat Generation, which rejected the standard norms and emphasized creative expression (Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg were two of the Beat movement's leading figures).

Musically, Janis Joplin and her friends gravitated toward blues and jazz, admiring such artists as Lead Belly. Joplin was also inspired by legendary blues vocalists Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Odetta, an early leading figure in the folk music movement. The group frequented local working-class bars in the nearby town of Vinton, Louisiana. By her senior year of high school, Joplin had developed a reputation as a ballsy, tough-talking girl who like to drink and be outrageous.

After graduating from high school, Joplin enrolled at Lamar State College of Technology in the neighboring town of Beaumont, Texas. There she devoted more time to hanging out and drinking with friends than to her studies. At the end of her first semester at Lamar, Joplin left the school. She went on to attend Port Arthur College, where she took some secretarial courses, before moving to Los Angeles in the summer of 1961. This first effort to break away from wasn't a success, however, and Joplin thus returned to Port Arthur for a time.

In the summer of 1962, Joplin fled to the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied art. In Austin, Joplin began performing at folksings - casual musical gatherings where anyone can perform - on campus and at Threadgill's, a gas station turned bar, with the Waller Creek Boys, a musical trio with whom she was friends. With her forceful, gutsy singing style, Joplin amazed many audience members. She was unlike any other white female vocalist at the time (folk icons like Joan Baez and Judy Collins were known for their gentle sound).

Career

In January 1963, Joplin ditched school to check out the emerging music scene in San Francisco with friend Chet Helms. But this stint out west, like her first, proved to be unsuccessful, as Joplin struggled to make it as a singer in the Bay Area. She played some gigs, including a side-stage performance at the 1963 Monterey Folk Festival - but her career didn't gain much traction. Joplin then spent some time in New York City, where she hoped to have better luck getting her career off the ground, but her drinking and drug use (she'd begun regularly using speed, or amphetamine, among other drugs) there proved to be detrimental to her musical aspirations. In 1965, she left San Francisco and returned home in an effort to get herself together again.

Back in Texas, Joplin took a break from her music and her hard-partying lifestyle, and dressed conservatively, putting her long, often messy hair into a bun and doing everything else she could to appear straight-laced. But the conventional life was not for her, and her desire to pursue her musical dreams wouldn't remain submerged for long.

Joplin slowly returned to performing, and in May 1966, was recruited by friend Travis Rivers to audition for a new psychedelic rock band based in San Francisco, Big Brother and the Holding Company. At the time, the group was managed by another longtime friend of Joplin's, Chet Helms. Big Brother, whose members included James Gurley, Dave Getz, Peter Albin and Sam Andrew, was part of the burgeoning San Francisco music scene of the late 1960s; among the other bands involved in this scene were the Grateful Dead.

Joplin blew the band away during her audition, and was quickly offered membership into the group. In her early days with Big Brother, she sang only a few songs and played the tambourine in the background. But it wasn't long before Joplin assumed a bigger role in the band, as Big Brother developed quite a following in the Bay Area. Their appearance at the now legendary Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 - specifically their version of "Ball and Chain" (originally made famous by R&B legend Big Mama Thornton) brought the group further acclaim. Most of the praise, however, focused on Joplin's incredible vocals. Fueled by heroin, amphetamines and the bourbon she drank straight from the bottle during gigs, Joplin's unrestrained sexual style and raw, gutsy sound mesmerized audiences - and all of this attention caused some tension between Joplin and her bandmates.

After hearing Joplin at Monterey, Columbia Records President Clive Davis wanted to sign the band. Albert Grossman, who already managed Bob Dylan, the Band, and Peter, Paul & Mary, later signed on as the band's manager, and was able to get them out of another record deal they'd signed earlier with Mainstream Records.

While their recordings for Mainstream never found much of an audience, Big Brother's first album for Columbia, Cheap Thrills (1968), was a huge hit. While the album was wildly successful - quickly becoming a certified gold record with songs like "Piece of My Heart" and "Summertime" - creating it had been a challenging process, causing even more problems between Joplin and band's other members.

Cheap Thrills helped solidify Joplin's reputation as a unique, dynamic, bluesy rock singer. Despite Big Brother's continued success, Joplin was becoming frustrated with group, feeling that she was being held back professionally.

Joplin struggled with her decision to leave Big Brother, as her bandmates had been like a family to her, but she eventually decided to part ways with the group. She played with Big Brother for the last time in December 1968.

Joplin's next album would be her most successful, but, tragically, also her last. She recorded Pearl with the Full Tilt Boogie Band and wrote two of its songs, the powerful, rocking "Move Over" and "Mercedes Benz," a gospel-styled send-up of consumerism.

Following a long struggle with substance abuse, Joplin died from an accidental heroin overdose on October 4, 1970, at a hotel in Hollywood's Landmark Hotel. Completed by Joplin's producer, Pearl was released in 1971 and quickly became a hit. The single "Me and Bobby McGee," written by Kris Kristofferson, a former love of Joplin's, reached the top of the charts.

Despite her untimely death, Janis Joplin's songs continue to attract new fans and inspire performers. Numerous collections of her songs have been released over the years, including In Concert (1971) and Box of Pearls (1999). Dubbed the "first lady of rock 'n' roll," Joplin has been the subject of several books and documentaries, including Love, Janis (1992), written by sister Laura Joplin. That book was adapted into a play of the same title. Amy Berg’s documentary, Janis: Little Girl Blue, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2015.

Achievements

• 

  Joplin was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Audiences and critics alike referred to her stage presence as "electric." Rolling Stone ranked Joplin number 46 on its 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and number 28 on its 2008 list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. She remains one of the top-selling musicians in the United States, with Recording Industry Association of America certifications of 15.5 million albums sold.
  
  On November 4, 2013, Joplin was awarded the 2,510th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the music industry. Her star is located at 6752 Hollywood Boulevard, in front of the Musicians Institute. On August 8, 2014, the U.S. Postal Service revealed a commemorative stamp honoring Janis Joplin, as part of its Music Icons Forever Stamp series during a first-day-of-issue ceremony at the Outside Lands Music Festival at Golden Gate Park.

Works

More photos

• music

  • Big Brother & The Holding Company 1967
  • Cheap Thrills 1968
  • I Got Dem Ol'kozmic Blues Again Mama 1969
  • Pearl 1971

Views

Janis Joplin was a nonconformist with a vision of changing the limiting patriarchal norms of society. As an integral part of the Counterculture movement of the 1960s, an era marked by the widespread dissemination of hallucinogenic drugs and free love, Joplin attempted to affect change through the reflection of her own life. She chose to do what she felt was inherently right and real, with little worry about what others thought of her along the way.

The biggest forces that Joplin reacted against were ones related to the constrictive traditional gender roles of her time. In the era in which Joplin grew up and even in which she rose to fame, social expectations for women were extremely limited. Although the women of the 1960s were no longer confined to their former roles as homemakers and were beginning to enter the workforce, female submissiveness remained a widely accepted social norm. Even in the workplace, women were paid significantly less than their male counterparts and were constantly facing sexual harassment. Despite the shifting role of women in the household and women’s newfound allowance of economic independence, women were still perceived to be socially inferior to men.

Joplin rebelled against these traditional gender roles by emulating characteristics that were conventionally designated for males. From the time that Joplin first started singing in local coffee houses in Houston, Texas to the time that she performed for thousands with the Big Brother & the Holding Company, Joplin maintained an unapologetically tough persona. She had an instinctively bold personality about her that was almost aggressive in nature. Her projection of this rough and untamed image was a far cry from the societal expectations of feminine behavior. Although Joplin’s persona was often associated with masculinity and her ability to become “one of the guys”, Joplin was not attempting to imitate men. Joplin also embraced qualities about herself that were thought to be inherently feminine, such as her vulnerability and her spouts of sensitivity. Through infusing her image with feminine qualities, Joplin forged a new female identity that could be simultaneously tough and feminine, thus creating her own form of female strength that was distinctively different but equivalent to male strength.

Above all, the most radical element of Joplin’s image was her constant promotion of sexual freedom. Through her lyrics, publicly made comments, and sheer attitude, Joplin was an obvious symbol of sexual liberation. Her lyrics were often times strongly sexually charged, as exhibited in songs such as “One Night Stand” and “Blow my Mind”. In the upbeat track of “C’mon Baby, Let the Good Times Roll”, Joplin playfully sings about sex and fun with a lover that she has missed. In this song, and in many others, Joplin openly sings about having sex and enjoying it. With phrases such as “let’s ride some more” and “rock me all night long!”, Joplin makes sex appear to be an exciting recreation. Aside from her sexually driven lyrics, her very stage presence was sexual in itself. On stage, Joplin would aggressively thrust her hips around and dance in motions that were deemed hyper-sexual.

Quotations: "Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got."

"I'm one of those regular weird people."

"Audiences like their blues singers to be miserable."

"Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers."

"On stage I make love to twenty five thousand people; and then I go home alone."

"You got to get it while you can."

"If I hold back, I'm no good. I'm no good. I'd rather be good sometimes, than holding back all the time."

"My father wouldn't get us a TV, he wouldn't allow a TV in the house."

"All of a sudden, someone threw me in front of this rock and roll band. And I decided then and there that was it. I never wanted to do anything else."

Personality

Janis Joplin, often referred to as the “Queen of Rock and Roll,” is remembered for her rebellious lifestyle, her psychedelic Porsche, her free-flowing fashion sense and above all, her distinctive voice. Joplin was a heavy drinker, and Southern Comfort was her drink of choice.

She is often remembered for her rebelliousness and free-living lifestyle, but she also had a softer, sensitive and intellectual side as well. She was interested in reading, painting, writing poetry, and was interested in her studies at school. Her love of books continued throughout her life and she even attempted to promote F. Scott Fitzgerald to Raquel Welch when they appeared on the Dick Cavett Show.

Janis was overall a very lonely young woman in spite of all the people surrounding her. She loved men and had several lovers but in many ways was very much a loner. "Onstage, I make love to 25,000 people - then I go home alone."

Physical Characteristics: As a mean joke, the fraternities at Texas University voted Joplin the “Ugliest Man on Campus.” Because of this and other related incidents, Joplin constantly struggled with her own self-confidence.

In April of 1970, Joplin was tattooed by legendary artist Lyle Tuttle. He inked a famous design on Janis' outer wrist in his shop on Seventh Street in San Francisco. The symbol stands for the liberation of women. She also had a small heart tattooed over her left breast. "I wanted some decoration. See, the one on my wrist is for everybody; the one on my tit is for me and my friends." She paused and chuckled, "Just a little treat for the boys, like icing on the cake."

Quotes from others about the person

• Florence Welch: "I learnt about Janis from an anthology of female blues singers. Janis was a fascinating character who bridged the gap between psychedelic blues and soul scenes. She was so vulnerable, self-conscious and full of suffering. She tore herself apart yet on stage she was totally different. She was so unrestrained, so free, so raw and she wasn't afraid to wail. Her connection with the audience was really important. It seems to me the suffering and intensity of her performance go hand in hand. There was always a sense of longing, of searching for something. I think she really sums up the idea that soul is about putting your pain into something beautiful."
  
  Kim France: "Once she became famous, Joplin cursed like a truck driver, did not believe in wearing undergarments, was rarely seen without her bottle of Southern Comfort and delighted in playing the role of sexual predator."

Interests

• Writers

  Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg

• Music & Bands

  Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Odetta

Connections

Janis Joplin was single.

Father:

Seth Ward Joplin

Mother:

Dorothy Bonita East

Brother:

Michael Joplin

Sister:

Laura Joplin

References

• Love, Janis
• Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis Joplin
• On the Road with Janis Joplin
• Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin
• Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing
• Living with the myth of Janis Joplin. The History of Big Brother & the Holding Co.
• Pearl: The Obsessions and Passions of Janis Joplin : A Biography
• American Legends: The Life of Janis Joplin