Don't compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got. - Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin (born on January 19, 1943) is considered to be the first female rock star. Joplin fell in love with the blues after seeing Elvis Presley’s infamous performance of Hound Dog on the Ed Sullivan Show. After, doing some research on her own, Joplin discovered the original recording of the song by blues singer Big Mama Thorton and decided then that her calling was to be a singer.
She moved to San Francisco, CA and in 1967, Joplin had her big break performing at the Monterey Pop Festival with her band Big Brother and the Holding Company. Due to the fact that Janis Joplin was (at the time) a nobody, the producers of the festival decided to not film her performance. However, after seeing how the crowd reacted to her “electric” stage presence and soulful voice, she was able to convince the producers of the Monterey Pop Festival to do her performance over, but this time with the cameras on. Her performance of “Ball and Chain” will forever go down as one of the best blues performance in music history.
Joplin went on to record two more albums with her band before establishing her solo career. In 1969, Janis Joplin established a backup group called the “Kozmic Blues”. Joplin and her new team went on to tour in Europe. And while the band’s tour didn’t face any major backlash...it definitely wasn’t successful either.
In Joplin’s own words, the fans in Europe didn’t know how to “get down”.
The European tour was also the height of Joplin’s heroin addiction, and it made her a little bit difficult to work with on a timely schedule.
Luckily, Joplin had another big performance awaiting her. Janis Joplin took the stage at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in Bethel, New York on August 16, 1969, at approximately 2:00, am EST. Although Joplin's setlist contained mostly covers of songs, she made sure to save her two biggest hits “Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)” and “Piece of My Heart.” The way Joplin used the conflict of pain and power in her lyrics as well as her voice, captured the hearts of the young generation that fought for free love and anti-war.
Joplin was pretty much in full control of her looks and her psychedelic/rock legend persona. Her free spirit and daring looks made her a very influential icon for the empowerment of women in this era and the years to come.
Janis Joplin died of an accidental heroin overdose at the age of 27 on October 4, 1970. She was processing what would’ve been her fourth album.
Next week on the blog we will be discussing two female rockers from the 1970s...any guesses on who they might be?
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