Janis Joplin would begin her music career at a time when the world was looking for something different. The entire youth culture of the United States was screaming for change and the likes of a few musicians would turn this movement loose upon the world. She would begin singing as a young child and end up as one of the most celebrated female artists of her time.

Janis Joplin

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

Texas Time

Janis Joplin would begin her music career at a time when the world was looking for something different. The entire youth culture of the United States was screaming for change and the likes of a few musicians would turn this movement loose upon the world. She would begin singing as a young child and end up as one of the most celebrated female artists of her time.

Born in 1943 in the town of Port Author Texas, she would sing the blues that would sound inviting to so many in the growing counter culture of the 1960's. Her singing career would start as a triviality during her high school years but would become her main way of letting go as an adult, and possibly ultimately leading to her demise.

Singing the Blues

Janis would attend college at Lamar State College of Technology in the town of Beaumont in her home state of Texas. She would record her first song in the house of a friend, which would be titled What Good Can Drinkin' Do. After, she would meet up later with a member of the band Jefferson Airplane and record a few songs until she decided that it was time for her to start her solo career.

She would become engrossed in her music, shouting and spouting her lyrics into the microphone like no other female of her time. During this time, many of Joplin's friends began to notice an increase in the singers drug use, especially in the category of amphetamines. However, it seemed the harder she got into the drug usage, the harder she wanted to sing the blues, and the better she sounded.

Along with the heavy use of amphetamines, she also had developed the habit of heavy drinking as well. During this time she would begin to drink the blended whiskey called Southern Comfort, which would become a staple in her dressing room, on her tour bus, and basically any other place that she stood for more than twenty minutes. Eventually, she would see the error of her ways and change her style, avoiding the drugs as well as alcohol under the influence of her friends.

Big Break

Janis Joplin would take her style of singing to the record companies and start the band called Big Brother and the Holding Company, which would gain fame in the hippie community of San Francisco known as the Haight-Ashbury district. During this time she would try to stay drug free but would eventually relapse when she moved in with the members of the Grateful Dead and went on to live with Country Joe McDonald.

During the summer of 1967, she would make her television debut on the Dick Cavett Show where she would gain fame as well as solidify an audience base that extended outside of California. The group would go on to release a few albums but it seemed that everywhere Janis turned many people were telling her she needed to be out on her own and leave the band behind.

Eventually she would do just that but not before the band released the album Cheap Thrills that contained her worldwide hit Piece of My Heart. The song would resonate across the globe with Joplin's throaty whiskey voice and is still played on many classic rock radio stations of the present.

Joplin would be world renowned but unfortunately her career and life would come to an end when she was found dead on a hotel room floor by one of her fellow musicians. She has been called the queen of white soul and would eventually be compared to industry greats such as Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead for her musical contributions.

Did You Know

• Joplin would sing the song Mercedes Benz that would later be covered by numerous other artists.
• She would play and collaborate with numerous other bands such as The Grateful Dead and The Doors.
• She was a part of the hippie movement in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.

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