Janis Joplin (1943 - 1970)
Janis Joplin, Rockstar, style icon and feminist leader Janis Joplin was the first female rock star. In a male-dominated music scene in the mid-1960s, she set the tone in her bands. Her live performances were ecstatic and many of her songs were autobiographical.
On January 19, 2018, she would have turned 75. Janis Joplin was the first female rock star. And she inspired countless musicians, such as Pink or Melissa Etheridge, who gave a laudation on Joplin when she was inducted posthumously into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995:
"Janis stood for the 60s. It was style icon, sound and inspiration for men and women around the world. She did not play anybody, as she did when she was a rebellious high school student in Port Arthur, she was always herself. " She was obsessed with the Holy Spirit, once said rock legend Little Richard about the voice of Janis Joplin. She could sing, yell, croak, sigh, and gently co-mute with different voices simultaneously. Her parents had very different plans for her: Teacher should become Joplin. "When I was 17, I started singing, I listened to a lot of music, and one day I started singing. It was a surprise." From art student to megastar. Born in 1943, the singer first discovers folk, then later blues music. She is not popular in school in stuffy Texas. She is not considered pretty. The young woman is lonely and unsure, looking for love and attention. At 18, she stops studying art and in 1963 she tramps to California to become a singer. Her destination: San Francisco, she tells in a TV interview. "I could not stand it anymore in Texas. California is freer. There you can do what you want. Nobody annoys. " In 1966 she joins the hippie metropolis of the blues rock band Big Brother & The Holding Company. Joplin becomes a star in June 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival. One of her biggest hits was the cover song "Piece of My Heart". Joplin is a smoking, whiskey-drinking and cursing blues singer. Their lifestyles are similar: sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. She can do it very gently - in the doubly coveted classic "Little Girl Blue", for example. Early feminist leader At the end of the 60s, things are rocketing for her: Woodstock is bringing her the worldwide breakthrough. Her self-esteem on stage makes her an early feminist leader. But drugs and alcohol excesses are increasing. In October 1970, during the recording of her fourth record "Pearl" in Hollywood, Janis Joplin is found dead in her hotel room. An overdose of heroin. She was only 27. The day before she sang the A-Kapella song "Mercedes Benz", which ends with a snotty laugh. by Hipet__TPF