janis joplin, a genius with a sad and hard life
The short life of Janis Joplin left a great legacy not only for music, but also for the female figure, managed to rebel against many stereotypes of the time, spoke openly on the sexual issue and managed to touch millions of souls with their songs. We remember the history of this important artist.
On January 19, 1943, the world received one of the most powerful female voices in history. Over there in Port Arthur, Texas, Janis Lyn Joplin was born. Her ancestry was not exactly musical, her father Seth worked in a refinery and Dorothy, her mother, stood out singing in her student life, her parents always wanted her to be a teacher and well we could call her a musical teacher, right?
Since she was little Janis was dissatisfied with her life in general, her mother stated that: "she was unhappy and dissatisfied". The relationship with Dorothy was never the best, Janis had problems of self-esteem and personality, since she considered herself an ugly person.
As a teenager thanks to a group of marginalized friends, he met the world of African-American blues with artists like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Lead Belly, these were very important when he decided to become a singer. At the age of 16 he began to visit bars in Louisiana constantly, the music relieved his sorrows, he liked to listen to African-American music, blues and jazz.
Janis graduated high school in 1960, and began her undergraduate studies in Fine Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. On July 27, 1962, a publication appeared in a newspaper where it was described as follows:
"She dares to be different: She goes barefoot when she feels like herself, takes Levi's to class because they are more comfortable and takes her Autotharph with her wherever she goes, so, in case she had the urge to break up sing, it will be very useful. Her name is Janis Joplin "
In its university stage Janis sang in different bars, generally was with the band Waller Creek Boys. In 1963, she chose San Francisco as her new home, because she wanted to get away from Texas, to live in a different place, in which she felt more identified with everything that went through her head.
Living in San Francisco, he played with artists such as Rog 'Pigpen' McKernan, who later became a member of The Grateful Dead; He recorded a homemade record with Jorma Kaukonen, guitarist of Jefferson Airplane and Margareta Kaukonen, who used the typewriter as a percussion instrument.
This was the decisive moment in his musical career, as together with Jorma and Margareta Kaukonen, they set a series of standards in the blues. But it was also the time when he began to use drugs, came to weigh 35 kilos and generally neglected his appearance. Then he was going to marry Peter LeBlanc, he planned to resume his university studies, but Peter abandoned it and this generated a physical and emotional decline.
In 1966 he joined the band Big Brother and the Holding Company, with which he recorded his first album, which was very important for the career of Janis, who also played eventually with The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger.
In 1967, Big Brother and the Holding Company performed for two days at the Monterey Festival, playing along with important artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, The Mamas and The Papas, among others. Janis left the audience astonished with his version of Combination of The Two (1968). Albert Grossman, the producer of Bob Dylan hired the band and in New York they recorded Cheap Thrills, the first album of the band, which ranked 338 among the 500 best albums of all time.
For no one was it a secret that Janis Joplin was the star of the band, the press said it was too good for the group and finally after pressure from Albert Grossman, Janis left the Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Janis and Albert began to search for the best musicians, recruited guitarist Sam Andrew, who was part of the Big Brother and the Holding Company and finally formed their new band Kozmic Blue Eyes. Fusing rhythms such as rock, soul and blues, they released the album I Got Dem Ol 'Kozmic Blues Again Mama! (1969), which received bad reviews because it was a different sound than his followers were accustomed to.
Although the musicians were very professional and they turned in Europe, Janis did not feel comfortable with her band, she wanted to create a brotherhood with them, however it was something that simply did not happen. So Janis again took refuge in alcohol and drugs. On August 16, 1969 is to frame the story, the artist made a great presentation at the Woodstock Festival. His musical success was amazing, however Janis was destroyed inside, in 1969 he decided to take a break and traveled for a couple of months to Brazil.
After his trip to Brazil, Albert Grossman proposed to form a new band, and thus was born Full Tilt Boogie Band, this time Janis felt comfortable with all the members both loved each other and had admiration for each other.
In September 1970 he moved to Los Angeles to record the album Pearl, on October 3, 1970 it was a great day of recording in the studio Sunset Sound Recorders, as a celebration he left with a couple of friends to get drunk. On October 4, Janis did not appear in the studio, then the producer Phil Rothchil began to worry, he told John Cooke, administrator and representative of the band, and he went to his house to visit her.
When he entered the room, Janis was lying next to his bed, on the floor. The cause of his death was an overdose of heroin, this episode had happened before, but this time nobody was at his side to help her. It is believed that the artist received a concentration higher than normal, on the other hand they claim that someone gave her the dose on purpose, but the truth is that at 1:45 p.m. from October 4 Janis Joplin passed away.
Janis joplin was undoubtedly a great singer and an outstanding artist who although her career lasted no more than 8 years left a great legacy and will be remembered forever as the person and artist who was
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